Billionaire investor Paul Tudor Jones says China is on a ‘slow boat to the south pole’ after its crypto crackdown as digital assets are here to stay

• Paul Tudor Jones told CNBC that SEC approval of the bitcoin-linked ETF will keep the US economy on top.
• The billionaire investor said China, on the other hand, is on a “slow boat to the South Pole.”
• “Crypto is here to stay,” said Jones, the founder of Tudor Investment Corporation.

With US regulators approving the first bitcoin-linked exchange-traded fund, billionaire investor Paul Tudor Jones said the US will remain the top “economic power in the world.”

Meanwhile, China, which has ramped up its crackdown on digital assets this year, is losing steam, he said.

“That place is on economically a slow boat to the South Pole,” Jones, the founder and chief investment officer of Tudor Investment Corporation, told CNBC’s Squawk Box Wednesday. “As long as the US can continue to unchain entrepreneurs, we’re always going to be in the dominant position.”

Jones said the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, which invests in bitcoin futures contracts, should give investors “great comfort.”

“We unleash our individual entrepreneurialism and creativity,” Jones said on CNBC. “You’re seeing China do the exact opposite.”

China has long been working to rein in the burgeoning market for digital assets. In September, the country took its most aggressive action so far by banning all cryptocurrency-related transactions, causing bitcoin prices to tumble last month.

But prices have since recovered, with bitcoin breaching its all-time high $65,000 mark Wednesday as investors cheered the bitcoin-linked ETF approval. The currency traded as high as $66,104 at 10:04 a.m. in New York, CoinMarketCap data show. The ProShares ETF, which trades under the ticker BITO, has increased 8% since its launch on Tuesday.

“Crypto is here to stay,” Jones said, adding that the world is becoming increasingly digitized. He told CNBC his firm has a small, single digits, position in cryptocurrencies. The digital asset is currently “winning the race” against gold, he added.