Bridgewater Associates’ Ray Dalio says he’s bought ETH

Ray Dalio told Yahoo Finance that cryptocurrencies have become an impressive asset class, but he thinks cash could become a “problematic asset”

Bridgewater Associates founder and co-chief investment officer Ray Dalio has revealed that other than Bitcoin, he also now holds a small amount of Ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency on the world’s largest smart contract platform Ethereum.

The billionaire investor, who’s been at the global hedge fund giant for over three decades, also expressed his admiration of the crypto space terming its growth as “impressive.” But the hedge fund manager did not spare cash, slamming it as possibly the “worst investment.”

These sentiments were expressed by Dalio during an interviewYahoo Finance, Thursday.

First Bitcoin, now Ethereum

Ray Dalio was like many other wealthy individuals, hedge fund billionaires and family offices who had a negative opinion of cryptocurrency, even though the technology’s growth has been phenomenal over the last decade.

His stance changed in May when he bought Bitcoin (BTC), as part of a wider institutional adoption. This new asset category has been gaining inflows thanks to an explosion in interest in decentralised financial (DeFi), nonfungible tokens, and most recently, metaverse. 

The American investor disclosed that he added Ethereum (ETH), to the crypto portfolio a few months ago.

“I don’t own a lot of it,” he told Yahoo Finance, referring to his ETH holdings. He also stated that he cannot reveal the amount of BTC he currently holds.

When asked about Bitcoin, the investor stated that he views it as an impressive technology that has remained safe and continues to be adopted all over the world.

“I think it’s very impressive that for the last 10, 11 years, its programming has still held up,” he noted.

Diversification may be necessary for investors who don’t have enough cash.

Dalio also spoke out about cryptocurrency as an investment vehicle. He said that he sees them as good investments and alternative money.

But he slammed cash saying that although most investors see it as a safe investment, his opinion is that it’s “the worst investment.” 

According to him, the dollar’s debasement, for instance, means inflation-adjustment puts losses on dollar-based investments at 4% to 5%. He urges diversification, noting that its likely cash will become “a problematic asset.”