Billionaire investor Jeremy Grantham delivered a scathing assessment of Bitcoin (BTC) during a recent appearance on CNBC's “Squawk Box.” The GMO co-founder reiterated his long-standing bearish stance, predicting that the cryptocurrency will slowly lose relevance over decades rather than imploding suddenly.
“I think it will slowly disappear over the years and decades; not with a big bang, but subtly,” Grantham stated. He dismissed Bitcoin as a “useless and speculative” asset that lacks intrinsic value. The veteran investor argued that even in a strong economy, Bitcoin’s price halved “for no apparent reason,” undermining its claim as a reliable store of value. He contrasted this with gold, which he said made strong gains over the same period.
Grantham took aim at Bitcoin’s real-world utility, noting that people do not use it for everyday transactions like buying groceries or paying for dinner. “What it does is allow criminals to move money around without leaving a trace. Brilliant,” he remarked sarcastically. He also condemned the proof-of-work consensus model, calling it “proof of unnecessary work” that should not be worth “a bucket of warm spit.”
Characterizing the entire ecosystem as faith-based speculation, Grantham emphasized that Bitcoin “pays no dividend. It doesn’t represent an asset you can put your fingers on. There is nothing there.” He concluded that the decline will be a prolonged, quiet bleed: “Over years and years, decades and decades, it will dwindle away, I suspect - not with a bang, but a whimper.”
