Billionaire Ray Dalio regards Bitcoin, the biggest and the oldest cryptocurrency, as “digital gold”. However, if you were to ask him which one he would pick, Bitcoin or gold, he would say: “If you put a gun to my head, and you said, ‘I can only have one,’”, “I would choose gold”. The American investor, who turns 72 this Sunday, is still circumspect about cryptocurrencies that have seen unprecedented growth in the last year.
The founder of Bridgewater Associates, an American investment management company, has in the past said that he “owns an undisclosed amount of Bitcoin”. But he has also frequently raised concerns about the virtual currency that for now at least, has taken the world by storm.
In his latest interview with CNBC, Dalio said that he owns a very small amount of Bitcoin. “I’m not a big owner,” he added. There are certain assets you own to diversify the portfolio and bitcoin is something like a “digital gold,” he said.
The Chairman and Co-Chief Investment Officer at Bridgwater added that Bitcoin is only a small piece in his larger investment puzzle, adding he thinks of the virtual currency as “diversification”. Dalio added that by and large, he had no idea if Bitcoin was going to go up or down. “I could argue both sides of that.”
A constant evaluation of your investments is the key, according to Dalio. He further suggested avoiding buying an asset like Bitcoin just because of its temporary boom. “Be careful about what you’re putting your money in,” he said. “And make the diversification global, not just in the United States.”
In May 2021, speaking at CoinDesk’s annual Consensus conference, Dalio said that he’d rather have Bitcoin than a bond as an inflation hedge. He further said that the biggest risk with Bitcoin was its success. Among other risks, Dalio cautioned Bitcoin enthusiasts against the government having the capacity to control digital currencies. They know where they are, and what’s going on, he said.
On Friday afternoon, Bitcoin price in India was around Rs 30,10,752.