Ray Dalio Admits He May Be Wrong About Bitcoin But Still Concerned of Government Ban

Billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio has admitted that he may be wrong about bitcoin after stating that governments will ban the cryptocurrency if it “becomes material.” Dalio founded Bridgewater Associates; his hedge fund is the largest in the world.

Ray Dalio Open to Learning About Bitcoin

Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio has admitted that he may be wrong about bitcoin after stating last week that he did not think that cryptocurrencies “will succeed in the way people hope they would.” He further said that governments will outlaw bitcoin if it becomes material.

Dalio is an American billionaire hedge fund manager who founded Bridgewater Associates and has served as its co-chief investment officer since 1985. His hedge fund is the largest in the world, with about $140 billion in assets under management. Dalio has been called the “Steve Jobs of Investing” by AICIO Magazine and Wired Magazine. He was also named one of the 100 Most Influential People by TIME Magazine.

As the price of bitcoin soared, surging about 55% over the past 30 days, Dalio tweeted on Tuesday:

I might be missing something about bitcoin so I’d love to be corrected.

“My problems with bitcoin being an effective currency are simple,” he began to highlight his concerns in a series of tweets.

Firstly, he claimed: “Bitcoin is not very good as a medium of exchange because you can[not] buy much with it (I presume that’s because it’s too volatile for most merchants to use, but correct me if I’m wrong).”

Secondly, he asserted: “it’s not very good as a store-hold of wealth because it’s volatility is great and has little correlation with the prices of what I need to buy so owning it doesn’t protect my buying power.”

Next, he reiterated the risk of governments banning bitcoin that he outlined in an interview with Yahoo Finance last week. Dalio said that if bitcoin “becomes material, governments won’t allow it.” He emphasized: “they’ll outlaw it and they’ll use whatever teeth they have to enforce that. They would say … you can’t transact the bitcoin, you can’t have a bitcoin.” The billionaire fund manager similarly tweeted Tuesday:

If it becomes successful enough to compete and be threatening enough to currencies that governments control, the governments will outlaw it and make it too dangerous to use.

The Bridgewater Associates founder further argued that “unlike gold which is the third-highest reserve assets that central banks own, I can’t imagine central banks, big institutional investors, businesses or multinational companies using it.”

Dalio ended his series of tweets with “If I’m wrong about these things I would love to be corrected. Thank you.”

Bitcoiners Addressing Ray Dalio’s Concerns

Many bitcoiners replied to Dalio’s bitcoin tweets. While the comments varied, some people attempted to address Dalio’s three concerns in detail. One of them was Blockfi CEO Zac Prince, who addressed each point Dalio made against bitcoin being an effective currency.

Founder of Mythos Capital Ryan Sean Adams chimed in, explaining that “Bitcoin-like assets aren’t meant to be a MoE, but a SoV to back digital stablecoins, similar to how gold once backed fiat.” Addressing Dalio’s government ban concern, he simply stated that “Game theory forces central banks to hold it; MMT will forces CBs into the digital realm.”

Capriole Investments founder Charles Edwards noted: “All new asset classes start from 0. Starting from 0 means there will be volatility to get to a big number. But if you zoom out, put Bitcoin on a log chart, it is almost as close to a straight line up as you can get. Mediums of exchange take time to become accepted among the population. Fact: you can use bitcoin debit cards to buy goods anywhere globally.”

Many replies simply point Dalio to their own work explaining about bitcoin or other popular resources. The official Twitter account of Fidelity Digital Assets wrote: “Mr. Dalio — many of your concerns around bitcoin are what we discuss with institutional investors every day at Fidelity Digital Assets.”

Some people see Dalio’s comments as a sign that he personally or his hedge fund will soon buy bitcoin. Abra CEO Bill Barhydt tweeted: “Anyone want to take a bet that Ray Dalio does a 180 on bitcoin in the next 6 months or sooner?” Lark Davis, aka The Crypto Lark, wrote: