Why Ray Dalio Would Pick Gold Over Bitcoin

What Happened: Billionaire asset manager Ray Dalio said that when it really comes down to it, he would choose real gold over its digital alternative, Bitcoin BTC/USD.

“If you put a gun to my head, and you said, ‘I can only have one,’ I would choose gold,” he said in an interview with CNBC on Thursday.

Dalio remains bullish on the outlook for Bitcoin, however, revealing that he still owns an undisclosed amount of the market-leading cryptocurrency.

“I own a very small amount of bitcoin. I’m not a big owner,” he said. “There are certain assets that you want to own to diversify the portfolio, and bitcoin is something like a digital gold.”

Dalio seemed to indicate that both assets have a place in an investor’s portfolio, but for those concerned by Bitcoin’s recent volatility, gold might be the better option.

Read also: Billionaire Ray Dalio Owns Bitcoin, Thinks It's Better Than Bonds

In a situation where he was forced to choose between the two, the clear winner would be gold on account of its longstanding reputation for being “a storehold of wealth,” explained Dalio.

“I just think of it as diversification,” he said. “By and large, I don’t really know whether bitcoin is going to go up or down. I could argue both sides of that.”

Price Action: After weeks of consolidating between $30,000 and $34,000, the market-leading cryptocurrency briefly touched $42,000 last week.

cAt press time, Bitcoin was trading at $37,711, losing 3% over the past 24-hours. Bitcoin’s daily trading volume stood at $26 billion and accounted for 45% of the crypto market.

Photo: Web Summit via WikiCommons