Billionaire investor Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, recently recommended that about 15% of an investor’s portfolio be allocated to gold or Bitcoin. He sees these assets as an essential hedge against rising macroeconomic risks and fiat currency devaluation. Dalio made these comments as part of the Master Investor podcast, framing this guidance as a neutral optimization for the best return‑to‑risk ratio.
What is the debt doom loop?
Dalio grounded his warning in what he calls a “debt doom loop”. The U.S.’ national debt is topping $36–37 trillion and is projected to need $12 trillion in new bond issuance next year just to maintain obligations. According to Dalio, America and other Western economies may be approaching a tipping point where unchecked fiscal imbalance leads to currency weakness, inflation, and broader systemic risk.
While Dalio still favors gold as the historical, privacy‑protected store of value, he acknowledges Bitcoin is growing into a modern alternative with decentralized supply. He owns “some Bitcoin, but not much,” he said and prefers gold personally. He said diversifying one’s portfolio with these assets and to what extent should be up to each investor.
Notable support for Bitcoin
Other prominent figures and institutions have been echoing a similar stance. Institutional players like BlackRock and Fidelity are increasingly treating BTC as a strategic diversification asset in their macro portfolios. Social media has been abuzz on Dalio’s pro-crypto stance. On Reddit’s r/CryptoCurrency, users highlighted the shift from Dalio’s earlier 1–2% Bitcoin stance to this more aggressive 15% guideline.
With Dalio’s 15% Bitcoin bet, the discussion around crypto as an asset class in a portfolio has become mainstream and can be considered as a core inflation hedge and risk diversifier in uncertain geopolitical and fiscal times.