Bill Gross: Central Banks Are Pushing Investors to Bitcoin

Risky markets and an incapable central banking culture could drive investors into the arms of bitcoin and gold, billionaire asset manager Bill Gross opined in a recent note to investors.

Gross, who founded the Pacific Investment Management Co and now spearheads the Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, dubbed markets a "casino", and said that low returns in an environment of zero-cost debt could ultimately push some investors to take their money elsewhere – thus risking further destabilization.

He wrote in a note to Janus investors, published today:

"Bitcoin and privately agreed upon blockchain technologies amongst a small set of global banks, are just a few examples of attempts to stabilize the value of their current assets in future purchasing power terms. Gold would be another example — historic relic that it is. In any case, the current system is beginning to be challenged."

What that outflow might look like, Gross didn't elaborate on. However, he opined that markets are in a very risky position and that "it is capitalism itself that is threatened" by current central bank policies, which since the 2008 financial panic have pursued a strategy of low interest rates and the monetization of debt.

"Investors/savers are now scrappin' like mongrel dogs for tidbits of return at the zero bound," Gross wrote, concluding:

"This cannot end well."

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