Key Points
- AQR Capital Management’s co-founder, Cliff Asness, labels Bitcoin as a speculative bubble.
- Asness cites speculative trading, use in conflict zones, and cyber ransom payments as crypto’s main functions.
Asness’ View on Bitcoin
Cliff Asness, who co-founded AQR Capital Management, has termed Bitcoin a speculative bubble. This follows Bitcoin’s rapid rise to over $100,000 after the U.S. presidential election in November 2024.
Asness expressed doubts about Bitcoin’s long-term value, attributing his skepticism to the lack of clear, practical uses apart from speculation and illicit activities.
“I’m on the bubble side, on the net,” Asness stated on CNBC’s Money Movers. He added that to change his stance, he would need more than a price change, but a use case.
Crypto’s Three Roles According to Asness
Asness pointed out three key functions for crypto: speculative trading, use in areas ravaged by war, and for the payment of cyber ransoms. Despite his pessimistic view, he acknowledged the difficulty of shorting Bitcoin due to its extreme volatility and the risks posed by concentrated short positions.
Bitcoin experienced a 120% surge in 2024, driven by the optimism surrounding the election of President-elect Donald Trump and the anticipation of crypto-friendly policies. Investors are hopeful for deregulation and the establishment of a national Bitcoin reserve under Trump’s administration.
However, the digital currency experienced a 3% drop in early 2025 and was trading around $92,000 at the time of writing.