“Bitcoin is hot air,” says this financial expert

In the US, Ramsey is known as a personal finance author and radio host. He recently expressed his skepticism about bitcoin during a broadcast of The Dave Ramsey Show. A caller, Jason from Connecticut, asks whether Bitcoin, with its current market cap of at least $1 trillion, is equivalent to holdings in investment portfolios, to which Ramsey says, “But it’s still hot air.” At the time of writing, bitcoin’s market cap is $1.33 billion according to the Clark Moody Dashboard.

Ramsey, who has sold more than 11 million books and built a reputation as a money expert, quotes Buffett to reinforce his point.

“Ask people like Warren Buffett who says if he doubled the amount he put into bitcoin, he would still have zero because that’s the amount he put into bitcoin. I’m with Warren on this one.”

During the annual shareholders meeting of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in 2018, Buffett described bitcoin as “probably rat poison squared.” Ramsey compares the value of gold and paper money, explaining that their value comes from a shared belief in that value. “No, bitcoin is a currency. Currencies have no value unless two people are willing to fight for them.”

For Ramsey, the long history of trust is an important component when considering investments, and by that measure, bitcoin still falls short. “I don’t invest in things where people haven’t built a long track record of trust, and even then, with a currency, I don’t invest in a currency. I would use it.”

Sceptis

Earlier in 2021, Ramsey expressed his skepticism about cryptocurrency as an investment. He largely views cryptocurrency as a risky, get-rich-quick scheme and has always preferred a more stable and, in his own words, “boring” approach to capital growth.

On his radio show at the time, he answered Michael from Dayton, Ohio, about investing in cryptocurrency. He said: “Bitcoin is hot. Crypto is hot. A lot of people are making a lot of money with it at the moment.”

Ramsey Solutions has consistently stated that cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin are not recommended investments, as reflected in a February blog post. While not dismissing the future of cryptocurrencies entirely or labeling them as entirely negative, the team at Ramsey Solutions advises its readership to steer clear: “just say no.”