Jesse Colombo, known as the “Bubble Hunter,” is a contrarian voice in financial markets, gaining fame for predicting the 2008 financial crisis and warning about speculative bubbles in various asset classes. In a recent post on social media platform X, Colombo criticized Michael Saylor’s proposal to sell all of America’s gold to purchase Bitcoin, calling it “outrageously foolish.” He emphasized gold’s long history as a store of value, spanning over 6,000 years, compared to Bitcoin’s 16-year existence, arguing that Bitcoin lacks the same historical foundation.
Colombo also pointed out that Bitcoin’s original purpose as outlined in the 2008 white paper was as a digital currency, not a “store of value.” He believes Bitcoin’s evolution into a “store of value” was driven by speculative price increases rather than inherent design, undermining its credibility compared to gold. Colombo is working on a report outlining 25 major flaws of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, aiming to counter the growing movement advocating for gold’s replacement by Bitcoin, which he deems irrational.
One of Colombo’s criticisms of Bitcoin is its correlation with leveraged tech stock ETFs, asserting that it behaves more like a speculative tech stock than a reliable asset. He argued that adding Bitcoin to the U.S. national reserves would exacerbate risks from a massive tech stock bubble, advocating for increasing gold reserves instead as a safer hedge against economic and market instability. Colombo sees gold as an “antidote” to speculative bubbles in tech stocks, startups, and cryptocurrencies, predicting that gold will surge past $20,000 per ounce when these speculative assets collapse.
In his critique, Colombo expressed personal objections to Saylor’s proposal, stating that he does not want decisions like selling U.S. gold reserves to buy Bitcoin to impact him or others. He emphasized his confidence in gold’s time-tested role as a financial safeguard and rejected Bitcoin as an unproven and risky alternative. Colombo’s stance is aimed at shedding light on the risks associated with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, warning against what he sees as their vulnerabilities. In a time of growing interest in digital assets, Colombo’s contrarian perspective provides a thought-provoking take on the debate between gold and Bitcoin as stores of value.