Founder of World's Largest Hedge Fund Ray Dalio Sees Bitcoin as Gold Alternative in Portfolios

Billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio, a long-time bitcoin skeptic, is warming up to the cryptocurrency. The founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, now says that bitcoin “could serve as a diversifier to gold and other such storehold of wealth assets.”

Bridgewater’s Ray Dalio Sees Bitcoin’s Role in Investment Portfolios

Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio, who has long been skeptical about bitcoin, now says that the cryptocurrency has a place in investment portfolios. In a Reddit AMA on Tuesday, Dalio clarified his view about bitcoin.

The American billionaire hedge fund manager founded Bridgewater Associates and has served as its co-chief investment officer since 1985. With about $140 billion in assets under management, his hedge fund is the largest in the world. AICIO Magazine and Wired Magazine have called Dalio the “Steve Jobs of Investing,” and TIME Magazine has named him one of the 100 Most Influential People.

Last month, Dalio tweeted that he “might be missing something about bitcoin,” and would “love to be corrected.” However, at that time, he was still unconvinced about the cryptocurrency, raising several key concerns, which bitcoiners quickly debunked.

Many Reddit users asked Dalio about bitcoin during the AMA, including user Nassimtalebiscoolleb, a self-proclaimed fan of American economist and trader Nassim Taleb. “I think it’s clear that the inequality in this country has gotten too rampant and we have lost our ways as a capitalist nation. I believe you recognize that central bank stimulus has played a big role in this,” he began. “Is bitcoin a potential answer to this issue that the global new world fiat monetary system has caused?”

Dalio wrote in response, “I think that bitcoin (and some other digital currencies) have over the last ten years established themselves as interesting gold-like asset alternatives, with similarities and differences to gold and other limited-supply, mobile (unlike real estate) storeholds of wealth,” elaborating:

It could serve as a diversifier to gold and other such storehold of wealth assets. The main thing is to have some of these type of assets (with limited supply, that are mobile, and that are storeholds of wealth), including stocks, in one’s portfolio and to diversify among them.

The billionaire fund manager added that “Not enough people do that.” Nonetheless, he maintained: “As for bitcoin relative to gold, I have a strong preference for holding those things which central banks are going to want to hold and exchange value in when they are trying to transact.”

A slew of hedge fund managers have recently become more bullish about bitcoin, including Paul Tudor Jones, Bill Miller, and Stan Druckenmiller. Jones recently said he believes that bitcoin’s market cap would grow beyond $500 billion. Even the CEOs of major banks are speaking positively about bitcoin and launching bitcoin services, including Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters and Blackrock CEO Larry Fink.