Ray Dalio – the founder of Bridgewater Associates – says the financial system so many people have become familiar with is in dire straits and in danger of collapsing. He’s now pushing his interest in bitcoin aside and supporting a new inflation-linked crypto he thinks would be much safer to use.
Ray Dalio On BTC: It’s Not Reliable
In a recent interview, he stated bitcoin cannot be tied to anything, and that the idea that it works as a hedge against inflation is a joke. He also said it has no safe store of value, and thus can never be trusted as an actual currency in which individuals utilize it to purchase goods and services. Dalio said:
It’s a tiny thing that gets disproportionate attention. It’s not going to be effective money. It’s not an effective store holder of wealth. It’s not an effective medium of exchange.
Putting all this aside, however, Dalio was quick to mention that while he feels bitcoin has its problems, he believes the main problems stem from foreign exchange reserves. He’s talking about the U.S. dollar, the euro, and the Japanese yen, and he thinks these three currencies are going to lead the global economy into a harsh and disastrous scenario. He commented:
We’re in a world in which money as we know it is in jeopardy. We’re printing too much, and it’s not just the United States.
In addition, he commented that China’s push to consistently trade in the yuan and in its new digital renminbi will likely cause them to dominate financial markets. Not long ago, the President of China Xi Jinping took a trip to the Middle East to push the yuan as the primary financial tool for conducting oil deals. Dalio is concerned about this, stating:
If Saudi Arabia sells oil in renminbi and then buys things from China in renminbi, when they get it they’re going to hold more renminbi. It’s going to be a higher percentage of their [reserves]. The question over the next number of years is really what is money, not just as a medium of exchange but as a store holder of wealth.
The Volatility Is Too Big!
Dalio’s biggest issue right now with bitcoin is its ongoing volatility. While BTC has bounced back from 2022 in recent weeks, he says it’s still too unstable to be relied on as a currency. He commented:
If you created a coin that says ‘OK this is buying power that I know I can save in and put my money in over a period of time and transact in,’ then I think that would be a good coin, so I think you’re going to see the development of coins that you haven’t seen that probably will end up being attractive, viable coins. I don’t think bitcoin is it.
