TechCrunch Contributor Gregg Schoenberg and Bridgewater Associates Founder & Co-Chairman/Co-CIO Ray Dalio speak onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco 2019 at Moscone Convention Center on October 02, 2019 in San Francisco, California.
Bridgewater Associates founder and co-chairman Ray DalioKimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunch
  • Billionaire investor Ray Dalio says allocating up to 2% of one's portfolio to bitcoin is reasonable.
  • The hedge fund titan made the revelation in a recent episode of the We Study Billionaires podcast published earlier this month. 
  • Dalio also touted bitcoin and gold as inflation hedges.
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Billionaire investor Ray Dalio says allocating up to 2% of one's portfolio to bitcoin is reasonable.

The hedge fund titan made the statement in a recent episode of the We Study Billionaires podcast published earlier this month. 

"I think that's right," Dalio said when pressed by co-host William Green on whether allocating 1-%2% "seems reasonably in the ballpark" as once suggested by fellow billionaire and investor Bill Miller.

Dalio, the founder and co-chief investment officer of the world's biggest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, was a crypto skeptic as recently as November 2020. He blasted digital assets for their volatility and, in 2017, called bitcoin a bubble.

But 2021 saw a new stance from Dalio when the billionaire walked back on some of his comments on the world's largest digital asset. 

"It has not been hacked. It has not been made obsolete. It has proven itself to be an asset which has imputed value," he told Insider in December 2021. "It's probably the next generation's version of gold."

Since then, Dalio confirmed he owns ether in addition to bitcoin and described both holdings as "a relatively small part" of his portfolio without elaborating further.

Dalio in the podcast also discussed his concerns about bitcoin being outlawed by the US government, a sentiment he's shared before. Still, he is confident, for now, that bitcoin, similar to gold, acts as a good hedge against rising prices of goods and services. 

"I think over time, inflation-hedge assets are probably likely to do better," Dalio said in the podcast. "That's why I'm not favorable to cash and those types of things."

In December, the billionaire has said that cash is the worst investment.

Last year, the price of bitcoin jumped around 60% while the price of gold fell 3.6%, marking the biggest annual decline since 2015.

Bitcoin is trading roughly at trading at $42,776 as of Thursday morning in New York, down about 7% after hawkish Fed minutes sparked a sell-off in risk assets on Wednesday. Goldman Sachs this week said the asset could hit $100,000 if it continues to take market share from gold.

Read the original article on Business Insider