Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, believed that if bitcoin continues to become successful and gain more mainstream acceptance, the regulators and governments would try to make it ineffective. “I think at the end of the day if it’s really successful, they will kill it and they will try to kill it. And I think they will kill it because they have ways of killing it,” Dalio told CNBC on Wednesday on whether regulation will ‘kill it’.
Dalio’s comments come in the background of countries like India, China, and the US itself stepping up focus on cryptocurrencies. For instance, the US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler said on Tuesday, as reported by CNBC, that Wall Street’s top regulator is working overtime to create a set of rules to oversee the volatile cryptocurrency markets while balancing the interests of American innovators. India is also coming up with a law to regulate cryptocurrencies. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said last month that the Cabinet approval is awaited on the cryptocurrency bill. China has also reportedly enhanced crackdown on crypto usage and mining in the country.
“You have El Salvador taking it on and you have India and China getting rid of it. And you have the United States talking about how to regulate it and it could still be controlled,” Dalio added. However, he noted that bitcoin doesn’t have intrinsic value. “There are so many things in a historical perspective that didn’t have intrinsic value and had perceived value. And then it went hot and it became cold. It could be either way. You just have to know what it is. It could be tulips in Holland.”
Dalio said Bitcoin has a possibility to be an alternative to cash “and all the alternatives to some of the financial assets.” Importantly, Dalio has investment in bitcoin — a small percentage of money he has in gold. Earlier in May this year as well, Dalio had said that bitcoin’s success is its biggest risk. He had told Wall Street Journal that “Its own biggest risk is its success, because as a storehold of wealth no government wants to have an alternative currency.”
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