Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s biggest hedge fund, is calling for investors to allocate 15% of their portfolios to %Bitcoin (CRYPTO: $BTC) or gold as risks mount.
Specifically, Dalio is calling on investors to get into BTC or gold as risks grow from America’s accelerating government debt and currency devaluation.
“If you were optimizing your portfolio for the best return-to-risk ratio, you would have about 15% of your money in gold or Bitcoin,” Dalio said on a podcast.
The comments mark a notable shift from his 2022 recommendation of just 1% to 2% of a portfolio in BTC.
Dalio has been raising concerns about what he calls a “debt doom loop” in the U.S.
He pointed to a projected $12 trillion U.S. in new Treasury issuance over the next year, required to service America’s $36.7 trillion U.S. national debt.
A U.S. Treasury report on Monday confirmed the trend, with the government expected to borrow $1 trillion U.S. in the third quarter, which is $453 billion U.S. more than previously forecast.
Dalio described Bitcoin and gold as “effective diversifiers” in a scenario where fiat currencies lose value relative to hard assets.
Still, Dalio remains skeptical about Bitcoin’s role as a reserve currency, citing surveillance and transparency of the %Blockchain as worries.
“Governments can see who is doing what transactions on it,” he said of the blockchain, adding that any code-level vulnerabilities could undermine Bitcoin’s credibility as alternative money.
While Dalio says he owns “some Bitcoin,” he framed his 15% recommendation as flexible, saying how much BTC a person owns is up to them.
Bridgewater Associates is privately held and its stock doesn’t trade on a public exchange. Bitcoin’s price is currently at $118,900 U.S., having risen 27% this year.
