Gold Vs Bitcoin – Ray Dalio Says Central Banks Won’t Touch BTC, Michael Saylor Says That’s The Point

• Billionaire Ray Dalio said Bitcoin’s lack of privacy, correlation with tech stocks, and relatively small market size make it unsuitable for central bank reserves.
• Saylor argued that Bitcoin’s transparency is a feature, not a weakness, because it enables the asset to function as global digital collateral.
• Dalio reiterated that gold remains the preferred safe-haven asset due to its long-standing role in the global financial system.

Strategy (MSTR) executive chairman Michael Saylor pushed back against comments from Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio on Monday, after the billionaire hedge fund manager argued that Bitcoin (BTC) is not a better safe-haven asset than gold and that central banks are unlikely to go near it.

“While Bitcoin gets a lot of attention, it hasn’t played the safe-haven role many expected,” Dalio wrote in a post on X, citing an interview he did with the All-In Podcast in March. 

According to him, the three primary reasons Bitcoin doesn’t work as a safe-haven asset are that it lacks privacy, has a high correlation with tech stocks, and is a small market. Since Bitcoin lacks privacy because transactions can be monitored and potentially controlled, “central banks aren’t looking to hold it,” he said.

Dalio also reiterated that gold is a better safe haven because it's “more widely held, deeply established, and still plays a central role in the global system.”

Bitcoin Safe-Haven Debate Returns

Saylor hit back, stating that gold is “analog capital,” while Bitcoin is “digital capital.” He said that Bitcoin's transparency is a feature rather than a flaw, making it suitable as global collateral in a way that a private or opaque asset could not be. He described gold as "analog capital" and Bitcoin as "digital capital," noting that Bitcoin has outperformed gold and achieved a higher Sharpe ratio since August 2020.

Strategy is the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin with over 818,000 BTC in its coffers. MSTR’s stock fell as much as 2.7% in pre-market trade amid weakness in the cryptocurrency market. Retail sentiment around the Bitcoin proxy on Stocktwits fell to ‘neutral’ from ‘bullish’ over the past day, but chatter remained at ‘high’ levels. 

This is not the first time Dalio has favored gold as a store of value over Bitcoin. Saylor’s has argument remains that Bitcoin is a superior alternative for the digital age. 

Bitcoin Vs. Gold

Bitcoin’s price dipped 0.7% in the last 24 hours, struggling to hold above $80,000. It’s currently more than 35% below its record high of over $126,000 seen in October. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the apex cryptocurrency remained in ‘neutral’ territory over the past day, accompanied by ‘normal’ levels of chatter. 

Meanwhile, spot gold prices have fallen by more than 15% since hitting a record high of over $5,500 at the end of January. The SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD) dipped 0.7% lower in pre-market trade. Retail sentiment around the fund rose to ‘bearish’ from ‘extremely bearish’ over the past day. Chatter stayed at ‘high’ levels. 

Read also: Ethereum Drops Harder Than Bitcoin Ahead Of CPI Report While XRP, Solana Retail Sentiment Climbs

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com