Government Ban on Bitcoin? No Dice Dalio, Say Crypto Execs

After billionaire investor Ray Dalio said governments would eventually ban Bitcoin, the crypto industry hit out at the hedge fund manager. 

During an interview with Yahoo Finance last week, the boss of the world’s biggest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, said that Bitcoin was not a good investment because governments would eventually “outlaw” it. 

He added that the cryptocurrency’s volatility also makes it a bad investment compared to gold. 

But the crypto community was quick to shoot down Dalio. A thread on Twitter by Moon Capital, which runs wealth dashboard SatWorth, set off the debate. 

1/ “BUT THEY WILL BAN BITCOIN.”

Let me quickly explain why this threat is HIGHLY overestimated and why it is NOT possible or even reasonable.

$1,000,000+ #Bitcoin is nearly inevitable.

— Moon Capital (@Moon__Capital) November 11, 2020

The tweet criticized Dalio’s theory, saying “if someone is presenting this argument, they've conceded that Bitcoin is the world's most valuable monetary good ever discovered. They understand that Bitcoin will become so incredibly valuable that it may threaten government itself.”

It added: “Banning Bitcoin wouldn’t kill bitcoin. You’d have to physically find every Bitcoiner and destroy their computer(s) to kill Bitcoin.”

The tweet was shared numerous times by crypto and finance bigwigs—including former hedge fund manager and Real Vision CEO, Raoul Pal, who mentioned that governments previously tried to ban gold.  

I think this is a good thread.

Also, the gold ban in the 30's meant that gold moved from the US to Switzerland etc. Gold continued to trade globally as normal. Capital control anywhere have never worked and gold has always worked. Bitcoin will be the same. https://t.co/78nenyEVLs

— Raoul Pal (@RaoulGMI) November 12, 2020

CEO of crypto exchange ShapeShift, Erik Voorhees, likewise chimed in on the debate. He seemingly concurred with Dalio that governments may indeed try to outlaw Bitcoin but added that such a ban would ultimately fail.

I agree with most of this, but not the peg-breaking argument.

True, US doesn’t have reason to ban BTC to break a peg, but when (when!) the bond market collapses and high inflation breaks out, every plausible scapegoat will be sought.

Ban will fail, but may indeed occur. https://t.co/YwQlOfBxHW

— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) November 12, 2020

Paul McNeal, chief curator of news website, The Crypto Curator, told Decrypt: “I believe Dalio is not as educated as he should be to make statements like this.” 

He added: “I do not see how the government can put a ban in effect that can be enforced. I believe that the government will try to put regulation in place to control it—that's the best they can do at this point.”

Crypto investor and founder of Bitcoin.com Roger Ver differed from his colleagues, however. Such a ban is “already happening,” he told Decrypt. 

“The IRS decreed that Bitcoin is not money, and all the small blockers did everything they could to help the IRS make sure that Bitcoin never did become money,” said the Bitcoin Cash proponent. 

In a message to Decrypt, Moon Capital doubled down on Dalio: “I still wouldn't be surprised if he [Ray Dalio] owns a small amount of Bitcoin just in case his analysis is off. If he doesn't then he's clearly not following one of his own principles—open-mindedness.”

Who knows—maybe Dalio is scaring off potential investors so he can HODL all that Bitcoin to himself.