Billionaire Jeremy Grantham Dismisses Bitcoin, Says Crypto Will Fade 'With a Whimper'
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- Jeremy Grantham called crypto a "useless, speculative mechanism" on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Friday, predicting it will "dwindle away... not with a bang, but with a whimper" over decades.
- Bitcoin has fallen 52% from its all-time high of $126,080 set last October, trading recently at $60,529 — a 17% drop in the last month alone.
- Gold, which Grantham cited as the superior alternative, hit a new all-time high above $5,500 per ounce earlier this year before pulling back more than 25% to $4,096.
- Grantham dismissed Bitcoin's utility as a store of value, saying "you can't depend on it" and noting "people don't use it to buy their dinner and pay at the supermarket."
- Grantham conceded that blockchain rails could still play a transformative role in finance, but stressed his criticism targeted Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies specifically.
- Mark Cuban echoed the same critique last month, calling Bitcoin "not the hedge I expected" relative to gold and disclosing he has sold most of his BTC as a result.
Why it matters: When two billionaire investors publicly cite Bitcoin's 52% drawdown and gold's relative strength as proof the asset fails as a hedge, it lends mainstream credibility to the anti-Bitcoin thesis — reinforcing the case Grantham laid out precisely as institutional and retail holders are weighing whether to stay long.
