Bitcoin will never be gold, says Ray Dalio as price jumps above $71,000

World famous investor Ray Dalio wants a word with the Bitcoin enthusiasts that have touted the top cryptocurrency as gold 2.0.

“There is only one gold,” said Dalio on the All-In podcast on March 3.

The founder of Bridgewater Associates, an investment firm that manages around $125 billion in assets, explained why gold lives in a category of its own — and why the gap between its purported digital copycat is only set to widen.

“Bitcoin does not have privacy,” Dalio said. “Any transactions can be monitored and then indirectly perhaps controlled. Central banks are not going to want to buy Bitcoin and be able to hold it.”

Dalio’s assessment isn’t new. For years, people have been decrying the lack of privacy on Bitcoin. That’s because the system was designed with transparency and trackability in mind, and not necessarily for individuals to conduct anonymous transactions.

Bitcoin is actually pseudonymous: the blockchain records every transaction, but it doesn’t reveal who’s actually moving money.

Gold, instead, can be held physically and transferred without any digital trace, argued Dalio. A central bank can move gold bars between vaults, conduct transactions government-to-government, and maintain complete privacy — no blockchain records the movement.

That fundamental difference, argued Dalio, explains why gold has surged 80% over the past year — to around $5,000 today from roughly $2,900 per ounce — while Bitcoin has fallen 25% since February 2025.

Bitcoin’s other problems

Beyond privacy, Dalio identified three additional headwinds that have made central banks reticent of buying Bitcoin.

First, there’s the quantum computing risk.

“There have been some questions or thoughts of the development of new technologies like quantum computing,” Dalio said. “Can there be issues regarding that?”

Wall Street banking bigwigs have already expressed concern over the issue.

Second, Bitcoin correlates with equities rather than acting as a hedge. It “tends to have a pretty high correlation with the tech stocks,” Dalio noted.

When markets crash, Bitcoin tends to fall alongside risk assets like the Nasdaq instead of rallying like gold.

Finally, argued Dalio, Bitcoin’s size makes it an easy target for manipulation. “It’s a relatively small market that’s relatively controllable,” he added.

Not all bad

Despite Dalio’s scepticism, Bitcoin has its features — especially for individuals and institutions in today’s world.

For one, Bitcoin is much easier to transfer globally. Bitcoin proponents like Michael Saylor have argued that by paying just a few cents, Bitcoin allows anyone with an internet connection to send value around the world 24/7, without armoured trucks or customs forms.

Then there’s divisibility. Bitcoin allows for someone to send $1 or $1 billion, both with the same ease and for a similar cost.

Lest we forget Bitcoin’s scarcity is verifiable — there will only ever be 21 million coins, Bitcoiners say. Anyone can audit the total supply in real-time, whereas gold reserves rely on trust. Countries and their central banks might lie about holdings, and gold-plated tungsten bars have fooled even the most sophisticated of buyers.

But Dalio’s central bank argument remains Bitcoin’s biggest hurdle. Some central banks do, however, like El Salvador, and Bhutan.

But they are an early wave of adopters, and until more governments start to hold Bitcoin in reserves alongside gold, the “digital gold” narrative faces a structural ceiling.

Pedro Solimano is a markets correspondent based in Buenos Aires. Got a tip? Email him at [email protected].