Ray Dalio: Crypto Should Be Part of a Diversified Portfolio

Billionaire hedge fund executive calls cash “the worst investment” amid rising inflation

article-image

Bridgewater Associate’s Ray Dalio; Source: Wikipedia

share

key takeaways

  • Dalio said crypto is an alternative money in an environment in which the value of the dollar is depreciating in real terms
  • Assets such as bitcoin and ether should be a relatively small part of investor portfolios, he added

Billionaire Ray Dalio owns bitcoin and ethereum, he said during an interview with Yahoo Finance, and believes that crypto has a place in portfolios.

The founder of hedge fund manager Bridgewater Associates — and the firm’s CIO since 1985 — declined to specify how much bitcoin and ether he owns.

Though he indicated he doesn’t own a lot, he said he views it as an alternative money in an environment in which the value of the dollar is depreciating in real terms. 

“I think it’s very impressive that for the last 10 or 11 years that programming has still held up,” Dalio explained. “It hasn’t been hacked … and it has an adoption rate.”

The hedge fund executive said he encourages diversification during the Yahoo Finance interview, noting that crypto is “a relatively small part of the portfolio.” He called cash the worst investment, noting its loss of buying power. 

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.8% in the month of November — the fastest pace since 1982 — putting inflation at a 6.8% increase over the year.

The Federal Reserve said in a statement Wednesday that it would speed up its asset purchase tapering timeline in response to high inflation and an improved labor market. Economic projections released with the statement show that Fed officials anticipate three increases of a quarter-point each to the benchmark federal funds rate in 2022. 

“The one thing I would say to investors [is] don’t judge anything in your returns or your assets in nominal terms, in terms of how many dollars you have; view it in terms of inflation-adjusted dollars,” Dalio said. “Cash this year you’ll lose 4% or 5% to inflation, and so pay attention to those.”

These are not Dalio’s first comments on cryptocurrency. 

The billionaire told CNBC in September that regulators would try to “kill it” if crypto becomes successful. He added at the time that many things that don’t have intrinsic value, such as cryptocurrencies, “became hot and then became cold.”

10T Holdings Founder and CEO Dan Taperio and Mark Yusko, founder and chief investment officer of Morgan Creek Capital Management, criticized Dalio’s September comments during a panel at Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit. 

“[Crypto] … will displace all of the bad, crappy money, and that is inevitable and there’s no way to stop it,” Yusko said. “Ray Dalio is crazy to say they can shut it down. No, you can’t.”


Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your inbox every evening. Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter now.


Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

zerebro.png

Research

Here we tackle the new crypto product ideas we expect agents to enable, reason about the value capture potential of different AI agent platform plays, and survey the current landscape of leading AI agent platform pureplays available to crypto investors today.

article-image

Despite the decades-long lead, there are spooky similarities between ETH and Intel stock

article-image

Some are calling for Solana to pump the brakes until validators are able to share the extra fees with stakers

article-image

Pantera junior partner Mason Nystrom details why projects need to raise capital

article-image

It’ll take time to “disentangle all these strands,” Peirce noted — ongoing litigation included

article-image

The victory lap the crypto industry has run since election night is bumping into some hurdles

article-image

The crypto custody firm’s goal was to “identify price points at which traders might consider the market to be overextended”