For Ray Dalio, bitcoin is like the digital version of gold – but the billionaire obviously values one more than the other, writes CNBC. “If you threatened me with a gun and said, ‘You can only own one,’ I would choose gold.”, says the popular investor, who turns 72 today.
In May, he revealed that he owned the cryptocurrency, but did not specify how much. “I own some bitcoin”he now tells CNBC. “There are certain assets you want to own to diversify your portfolio, and bitcoin is something like digital gold.”
Dalio, who has no longer been co-CEO of the Bridgewater Associates he founded since 2017, is a clear supporter of gold. Last year, a company he remains chairman of poured more than $ 400 million into the precious metal.
Central banks today own more than 35,000 metric tons of gold, about one-fifth of all gold mined in the world. Usually, they do it to diversify their portfolios – and because the precious metal is a physical commodity with depleted reserves, it is also a protector against inflation.
In May, Dalio said bitcoin was also a bulwark against inflation. But he would prefer gold because of its proven role. As well as because of the regulatory dangers that lurk in cryptocurrency investors. According to the billionaire, there is a “very real chance” that bitcoin will be banned by the federal government in the United States. However, this also happened with gold: in 1934, President Franklin Roosevelt issued an order placing private investors’ gold under state control. At the time, the dollar was still pegged to the precious metal, and he hoped to devalue it with this move to help the country emerge from the Great Depression.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is also not a fan of cryptocurrencies. He also compared them to gold, saying people have long valued the metal. “a special value which he does not possess“.
Of course, the billionaire’s concern is the volatility of the currency, which has risen 250% in the last 12 months and more than 1,000% from the bottom in March 2020 to its peak in April, but is now still a third of it.
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