Ray Dalio, the billionaire investor behind the world’s largest hedge fund firm Bridgewater Associates, recently said that there is a “good probability” that Bitcoin will be banned.
What Happened: In an interview with Yahoo Finance’s editor-in-chief, Dalio said, “Every country treasures its monopoly on controlling the supply and demand. They don’t want other monies to be operating or competing because things can get out of control. So I think that it would be very likely that you will have it, under a certain set of circumstances, outlawed the way gold was outlawed.”
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The investor went on to point out that the Indian government is currently considering banning cryptocurrencies entirely and said he would have to evaluate what that means for the asset class.
Why It Matters: Although Dalio does believe that the cryptocurrency could be outlawed, he was clear on the fact that Bitcoin has proven itself as an asset class over the past ten years.
“It hasn’t been hacked. It’s by and large, therefore, worked on an operational basis. It has built a significant following. It is an alternative, in a sense, store hold of wealth. It’s like digital cash. And those are the pluses,” he said.
The fact that he views the digital asset in a largely positive light isn’t news to many after he recently called Bitcoin “one hell of an investment” in a January research paper from Bridgewater.
Price Action: Bitcoin regained momentum today, reaching a 24-hour high of $57,262 after falling under $54,000 yesterday, according to data from CoinMarketCap. At press time, the market-leading cryptocurrency was trading at $54,082.
Image: Web Summit via WikiCommons