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- Michael Burry says governments could handicap bitcoin to protect their currencies.
- “The Big Short” investor doubts cryptocurrencies can disrupt the financial system.
- Burry has slammed bitcoin as a “speculative bubble” with an uncertain future.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Bitcoin could be sidelined by governments that consider it a threat to their currencies, Michael Burry said in a now-deleted tweet on Tuesday.
“Regarding #BTC, will central banks ever use it as a store of value, or will they be compelled to handicap it and relegate it to niche status like so many promissory notes?” the investor asked, as bitcoin continues to trade near record highs after more than tripling in price over the past six months.
“Long term, this is what matters in a world of centralized, powerful, violent and ruthless governments.”
Burry is best known for his billion-dollar bet against the US housing bubble in the mid-2000s, which was immortalized in Michael Lewis’ book “The Big Short” and its film adaptation, in which Burry was played by Christian Bale.
In another deleted tweet on Tuesday, Burry said bitcoin might struggle to disrupt an entrenched global financial system that has relied on fiat currencies for centuries.
“Regarding #BTC and other cryptocurrencies, might bulls be underestimating the already-established network effect embodied in the global fiat economic system that chooses a captain and is then beholden to support that captain, until said captain changes?” he asked.
Burry has been a vocal critic of bitcoin, warning the digital coin is a “speculative bubble” fueled by debt in a tweet last week.
In February he also said its long-term prospects were “tenuous,” but added that he wasn’t short bitcoin as “anything is possible” in the near future.
Moreover, the investor tweeted last month that most bitcoin is mined in countries that face sanctions such as China, Iran, and Russia.
As a result, “crypto is in a race” to win enough institutional backing to resist the efforts of regulators and central banks to destroy it, he said.
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