Cryptocurrencies are attractive as a 'small part' of any portfolio, George Ball says

• CEO of investment firmSanders Morris Harris, George Ball, said cryptocurrencies are "attractive" as a part of any portfolio.
• Ball said he sees cryptocurrencies as an effective hedge against currency debasement.
• The CEO also argued stock speculators will make the shift to crypto markets if there is a pullback in equities.

George Ball told Yahoo Finance on Thursday that he believes cryptocurrencies are "attractive" as a "small part" of any portfolio.

Until recently, the chairman and CEO of investment firm Sanders Morris Harris had long been a critic of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

In a video call with Reuters last August, Ball told investors that it was time to buy bitcoin.

"I've never said this before, and I've always been a blockchain, cryptocurrency and bitcoin opponent. But if you look now, the government cannot stimulate markets forever, the liquidity flood will end," Ball said.

Now, Ball is again making the case for investors to consider digital assets.

"With the cryptocurrencies, I think there is a fundamental hydra-headed shift that makes them attractive as a part, a small part, of almost any portfolio," Ball said.

Ball told Yahoo Finance that he believes cryptocurrencies are now ideal targets for investment by wealthy individuals and institutional investors for two main reasons. First, Ball argued cryptocurrencies will be an effective hedge against the debasement of fiat currency.

"Longer-term if inflation is back, if we start to debase the currency badly, then the cryptocurrencies have a great deal of allure," Ball said.

Secondly, Ball believes the increase in retail traders who speculate on stocks could lead to rising crypto prices. Ball said that the retail investor market has gone from "5% trading volume to 30%, to maybe 35%, of all volume today."

The CEO said retail stock speculators will move to cryptocurrencies if they begin to face losses in the equity market.

"So if the investors are losing money in common stocks, but still want to speculate, then the cryptocurrencies I think will be the logical and likely next focus of their combined, individually small, but combined very large dollars," the CEO said.

Ball's bullish view of cryptocurrencies comes amid a historic run for bitcoin, which hit record highs of over $58,000 per coin in February buoyed by institutional investment and interest from Tesla, MicroStrategy, and Square, among others.

And with high-flying tech stocks struggling, Ball's prediction of a shift from stock speculation to crypto speculation may prove prescient.