‘In History, They’ve Outlawed Gold’: Billionaire Ray Dalio Says World Governments Could Boycott Bitcoin

Dalio has often spoken out of his concerns linked to the crypto space. Last year, he said cryptocurrencies could be killed altogether.

By Radhika Parashar | Updated: 3 January 2022 18:08 IST

‘In History, They’ve Outlawed Gold’: Billionaire Ray Dalio Says World Governments Could Boycott Bitcoin

Photo Credit: Unsplash/ Dmitry_Demidko

Bitcoin is the world’s oldest cryptocurrency, first token of which was mined in 2009

Highlights

Dalio thinks Bitcoin could become a threat to government monopoly
Bitcoin’s decentralised nature is an issue, Dalio said
Dalio does hold some Bitcoin and Ether tokens

Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, has warned crypto investors around the world that the boycott of Bitcoin on a global level is a possibility. Speaking on the Investor's Podcast Network, Dalio said governments around the world could collectively outlaw Bitcoin, which is an unregulated and decentralised digital asset, currently trading at $46,939 (roughly Rs. 34.92 lakh) on international exchanges. The main reason Dalio backed his opinion with was the threatening alternate currency that Bitcoin could become in itself, which could challenge the authorities of central banks around the world.

“In history, they've outlawed gold and they've outlawed silver, and so on, and they could outlaw Bitcoin. Every government wants a monopoly in their own currency,” a report by Bitcoin.com quoted Dalio as saying.

Despite having admitted to owning Bitcoin and Ether as part of his diversified portfolio, the billionaire has consistently remained skeptical about the growth of the crypto space.

El Salvador President Says 2 More Nations Will Adopt Bitcoin in 2022

In May 2021, he said that the success of cryptocurrencies will usher in a plethora of strict regulations in the financial sector. Later in September, Dalio had said regulators would kill cryptocurrencies if Bitcoin becomes a huge success.

Dalio's outlook towards crypto is totally opposite to that of his contemporary, Michael Saylor, who is the CEO of US-based business intelligence firm MicroStrategy

Saylor, who has often compared Bitcoin to gold, had recently predicted that in the coming years, the per-token value of the world's oldest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, could reach $6 million (roughly Rs. 45 crore).

The 56-year-old businessman reportedly owns at least 17,732 Bitcoin tokens, presently amounting to around $860 million (roughly Rs. 6,468 crore).

Interested in cryptocurrency? We discuss all things crypto with WazirX CEO Nischal Shetty and WeekendInvesting founder Alok Jain on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Further reading: Bitcoin, Ray Dalio, Cryptocurrency

Radhika Parashar

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Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at RadhikaP@ndtv.com. More