Ray Dalio Still Chooses Gold Over Bitcoin, Here's The Reason

Bitcoin value will still go up or down. (photo: executium/unsplash)

JAKARTA - Hedge fund manager Ray Dalio says he is still “bullish” in Bitcoin but has a greater tendency to invest in gold.

Speaking to CNBC on August 4, the billionaire investor admitted to owning a “very small amount” of Bitcoin but said he would choose gold if he had to make a choice between the two.

"If you put a gun to my head and you say, 'I can only have one. I'll choose gold'", he said.

But he added that he sees Bitcoin as digital gold and remains an important way to diversify. “There are certain assets that you want to own to diversify your portfolio, and Bitcoin is something like digital gold”, he said.

Dalio has been a long-term gold investor, with his hedge fund Bridgewater having poured more than USD 400 million into gold in the second quarter of last year. In 2019, he wrote that adding gold can help balance a portfolio because it can reduce risk and increase returns.

Holding valuable properties like gold was more attractive to Dalio, who saw it as a natural hedge against inflation. The central bank currently holds more than 35.000 metric tons of gold, which is equivalent to about one-fifth of all gold ever mined.

Dalio has previously warned about possible regulation of crypto assets and even a potential ban in the US as happened to gold holdings in the 1930s. In Dalio's mind, there is a "reasonable chance" that Bitcoin could eventually be banned by the federal government.

He remains cautious about Bitcoin but still wants it in his portfolio for diversification purposes. “By and large, I don't really know if Bitcoin will go up or down. I can debate both sides of it”, he said.

In May, he stated that he would rather buy BTC than bonds during an interview at the crypto Consensus conference.

As of this news is written, gold trading value is at USD 1.810/oz after losing 4.4% since the start of the year. Bitcoin, on the other hand, is up 36% over the same period trading at USD 39.360 according to CoinGecko.

Another billionaire contemplating Bitcoin in recent days is venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. In a new interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday, August 3, co-founder Andreessen Horowitz admitted to being impressed by BTC. “One of the most amazing things I have ever seen and the underlying technological breakthrough”, he said of Bitcoin

But the report shows that he is more enthusiastic about the decentralized system he is building. He said, "a lot of the smartest people in computer science are getting into this field". He added that it represented "a new kind of financial system" where people "are able to form trusting relationships in an environment that cannot be trusted".