Ray Dalio chose a rather curious moment to criticize bitcoin.
During his appearance on the widely-followed All-In Podcast this past Tuesday, the founder of Bridgewater Associates urged investors to stop equating bitcoin with gold. He argued that bitcoin lacks backing from central banks, offers no privacy protections, and faces potential long-term threats from advancements in quantum computing.
“There is only one true gold,” Dalio stated. “Gold stands as the most established form of money” and remains the second-largest reserve asset held by central banks worldwide.
However, the timing of his remarks somewhat weakened his argument. On that very day, gold prices plunged by $168 to $5,128—a 3% drop—while bitcoin’s value declined by just 0.7%, settling around $68,700. As tensions escalated five days into the U.S.-Iran conflict, it was ironically Dalio’s preferred asset—gold—that suffered more during a crisis it is traditionally expected to shield against.
This divergence between bitcoin and gold isn’t unprecedented. From July through early October, both assets moved in tandem until a major crypto crash wiped out $20 billion in leveraged positions last October. Since then, their paths have diverged sharply: bitcoin has lost over 45% from its peak while gold surged approximately 30%, surpassing $5,100 during this period.
The initial strikes on Saturday caused a spike in gold prices which later reversed as concerns shifted toward oil supply disruptions amid escalating conflict. Bitcoin experienced selling pressure on Saturday but rebounded Sunday following news about Iran’s supreme leader Khamenei’s death; however it failed to break above $70,000 on Tuesday and has since stabilized near mid-$67,000 levels.
This pattern suggests neither asset functioned perfectly as safe havens throughout this turbulent week—both exhibited volatility—with bitcoin simply showing less price fluctuation than gold did. This outcome contradicts what Dalio’s framework would predict for these traditional versus emerging stores of value under geopolitical stress.
Dalio’s critiques themselves are not novel either: he highlighted concerns over bitcoin’s transparency since “every transaction can be tracked and potentially controlled.” He questioned whether central banks would ever adopt an asset maintained via public ledger technology and flagged quantum computing as an existential threat looming further down the road.
Still though he isn’t entirely pessimistic about cryptocurrency: Dalio reportedly allocates roughly 1% of his portfolio into bitcoin for diversification purposes and suggested back in July that investors consider dedicating up to 15% combined between bitcoin or gold due to their favorable risk-return profiles amid America’s growing debt challenges.
Last month he warned that the existing “World Order”, predominantly led by U.S., had fractured — urging investors globally to rethink how they safeguard wealth going forward. Whether relying solely on gold remains viable is currently hotly debated within markets—and recent price movements haven’t made defending that stance any easier for him.