Billionaire Ray Dalio Insists Governments Could Outlaw Bitcoin

Billionaire Ray Dalio, the founder of the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, has reiterated his warning that governments could outlaw bitcoin. “In history, they’ve outlawed gold and they’ve outlawed silver and so on, and they could outlaw bitcoin,” he stressed.

Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio talked about bitcoin as he reiterated his warning that governments could outlaw the cryptocurrency on the Investor’s Podcast Network, published Saturday. Dalio currently serves as Bridgewater Associates’ chairman and co-chief investment officer. His firm’s clients include endowments, governments, foundations, pensions, and sovereign wealth funds.

Dalio warned that “there are regulatory issues” surrounding bitcoin. “When you have an alternative currency, that’s a threat to every government,” he elaborated. “Every government wants a monopoly in their own currency and particularly if you get a better currency because it doesn’t get devalued.” Dalio added:

In history, they’ve outlawed gold and they’ve outlawed silver and so on, and they could outlaw bitcoin.

Nonetheless, Dalio admitted that he has a small amount of bitcoin in his portfolio for diversification. “I’m Mr. diversification,” he said. The Bridgewater Associates boss also recently revealed that he also owns some ether (ETH).

Commenting on the recommendation by another famous fund manager, Bill Miller, who said that investors should hold about 1% to 2% of their portfolio in bitcoin, Dalio said, “I think that’s right.”

Despite the worry that governments may ban bitcoin, Dalio opined:

It’s very impressive that this concept was programmed something like 10, 11 years ago and has stood the test of time.

The billionaire previously said he does not believe that bitcoin will replace gold as some people have suggested. He also does not believe that the price of BTC could reach a very high number such as $1 million.

In contrast, Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor has repeatedly said that bitcoin will replace gold. The pro-bitcoin executive also expects the price of BTC to reach $6 million. In addition, fund managers are increasingly opting to invest in bitcoin over gold, seeing the cryptocurrency as a better store of value.

The Bridgewater Associates founder has warned about governments banning bitcoin for quite some time. In September last year, he said that regulators will kill bitcoin if it becomes “really successful.” In addition, he said in May last year that the success of cryptocurrencies could bring tough regulations. For example, he noted regulators could impose “shocking” taxes on digital currency.

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