One of Latin America's wealthiest individuals, Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego has been bullish on Bitcoin (BTC) for years. In fact, the billionaire holds 70% of his investment por
One of Latin America's wealthiest individuals, Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego has been bullish on Bitcoin (BTC) for years.
In fact, the billionaire holds 70% of his investment portfolio in the cryptocurrency as he believes fiat currencies are going to lose purchasing power over time.
Related: Cathie Wood predicts Bitcoin to $1.25 million as supply vanishes
In a recent interview with CoinDesk, Salinas argued that everyone should consider converting some of their home equity to Bitcoin.
“For most people, the biggest investment, their nest egg, is their home equity. Find a way to transform that into some kind of Bitcoin exposure to a larger or to a smaller degree,” he said. “So then you can bet on the asset of the house appreciating, the house asset appreciating, and the Bitcoin asset appreciating.”
Salinas said his bullish belief in Bitcoin is driven by its long-term appreciation relative to that of real estate. He believes Bitcoin outperforms traditional stores of value such as real estate over the long term.
"It's an asymmetrical bet to the upside," he argued. “The more people find out about bitcoin, the more demand there will be."
He drew another parallel to gold and the U.S. dollar. While gold traded at around $125 an ounce in July 1976, it trades at more than $4,500 an ounce. The U.S. dollar, on the other hand, buys only about15% of what it did in 1976.
Trending on TheStreet Roundtable:Salinas believes scarce assets tend to hold their value and holds stakes in gold mining companies. He looks at Bitcoin as a modern version of the same kind of asset.
BTC/USD, Source: DecibelThough he refrained from offering any short-term price predictions, Salinas said, “So it will be $1 million... I just don't know when.”
Bitcoin was exchanging hands at $65,869 at press time, as per Decibel.
Related: Michael Saylor reveals key reason for Bitcoin's crash
