‘Bitcoin is a bubble’, says the head of the world’s largest hedge fund

Ray Dalio, Founder, Co-Chief Executive Officer and Co-Chief Investment Officer, Bridgewater Associates attends the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January 18, 2017. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich - LR1ED1I0P481R

Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund firm has said that Bitcoin is just a bubble. The American investor stated that cryptocurrencies such as the Bitcoin meet his firm’s criteria for being termed a market bubble.

According to Dalio, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have several limitations that affect its liquidity. He was quoted in a report by CNBC saying that “…you can't make much transactions in it (Bitcoin). You can't spend it very easily…It's not an effective storehold of wealth because it has volatility to it, unlike gold,…Bitcoin is a highly speculative market. Bitcoin is a bubble."

The billionaire investor maintains that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin fail to perform the two roles that are essential for any valid currency i.e. ease of transactions as a medium of exchange and being a "storehold of wealth."

Dalio said that while the idea may work conceptually, lack of transactions and high volume of speculations surrounding it will make Bitcoin a failure in the long term.

Dalio is not the only market guru to lash out against the Bitcoin. Earlier, CEO of JP Morgan Jamie Dimon had also criticised the cryptocurrency and had termed it as a ‘fraud.’

The news is crucial for India, which is considering its own cryptocurrency backed by the RBI.

The US Fed has also come up with the idea of a Fedcoin. Similarly, a consortium of Canadian private banks is already exploring the possibility of clearing and settling large value payments using blockchain using a token called CAD-coin.

In an earlier conversation with Moneycontrol, Sandeep Goenka, COO and co-founder of Zebpay, India’s largest bitcoin exchange had said that some experts scrutinize the digital currency, Bitcoin, as it is deregulated and maintains the anonymity of its holders, but they do not talk much about the benefits one can reap from the underlying software – blockchain --  that empowers it.