Billionaire Jeremy Grantham rejects Bitcoin, says cryptocurrencies will ‘slowly’ fade away

Billionaire investor Jeremy Grantham won’t be adding cryptocurrencies to his portfolio any time soon.

Grantham, co-founder of investment firm GMO, famously made his position on the asset class clear in an appearance on… CNBC“squawk box” On Friday, he called cryptocurrencies a “useless speculative mechanism.”

“Years and years and decades and decades – I think it will dwindle down,” Grantham said of his future. “Not with a bang, but with a whimper.”

Grantham highlights Bitcoin Instability as a store of value, indicating its recent decline – a 52% decline from the all-time high of $126,080 hit last October, despite strong economic conditions and gold making significant gains over the same time frame.

The commodity and main store of value assets rose to New all-time high Above $5,500 an ounce earlier this year, but has since fallen more than 25% to trade at $4,096.

“You can’t rely on it that way,” he said of Bitcoin. “People don’t use it to make serious deals, they don’t use it to buy dinner and pay at the supermarket.”

Instead, he said it “allows fraudsters to move money without leaving a trace,” adding that it’s “great at that.”

Grantham acknowledged that blockchain rails could play a transformative role in the future, but clarified that his comments were related to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin has fallen 17% in the last month of trading, most recently trading at $60,529.

Last month, billionaire investor Mark Cuban did the same He criticized Bitcoin’s role as a store of valuePointing to its recent poor performance compared to gold, he said: “It is not the hedge I expected.” Cuban added that he sold most of his Bitcoin as a result.