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Ray Dalio is the founder, Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Bridgewater Associates, one of the world's largest and most successful investment firms that is famous for the principles of radical truth and transparency that underlie its culture. Ray is one of the wealthiest people in the world, with ideas that extend far beyond the specifics of how he made that wealth. His ideas, applicable to everyone, are brilliantly summarized in his book Principles.

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Again, maybe another dumb question, but...

There are no such things as dumb questions, Tony.

Another thing that if I just zoom out from an alien perspective and look at human civilization, it's incredible that we've created a thing that's not, that only works because currency, because we all agree it has value.

So I guess my question is, how do you think about money as this emergent phenomenon, and what do you think is the future of money?

You've commented on Bitcoin, other forms.

What do you think is its history and future?

It's a medium of exchange and it's a storehold of wealth.

That's, so money, you know, so you could say something's a medium of exchange, and then you could say is it a storehold of wealth, okay?

So those, and money is that vehicle that is those things and can be used to pay off your debt.

So when you have a debt and you provide it, it pays off your debt.

And it's, I apologize to interrupt, but it only can be a medium of exchange or store wealth when everybody recognizes it to be a value.

And so you see in the history around the world and you go to places, I was in an island in the Pacific in which they had as money these big stones and literally they were taking a boat, this big carved stone, and they were taking it from 1 of the islands to the other and it sank the the the piece of this big stone piece of money that they had and it went to the bottom and They still perceived it as having value So that it was even though it was in the bottom and it's this big hunk of rock, the fact that somebody owned it, they would say, oh, I'll own it for this and that.

I've seen beads in different places, shells converted to this and mediums of exchange.

And when we look at what we've got, you're exactly right, it is the notion that if I give it to you, I can then take it and I can buy something with it and that's, so it's a matter of perception, okay.

And then we go through then the history of money and the vulnerabilities of money.

And what we have is, through history, there's been 2 types of money.

Those that are claims on something of value, like the connection to gold or something.

That would be, or they just are money without any connection, and then we have a system now which is a fiat monetary system.

Then it will last as long as it's kept a value and it works that way.

So let's say central banks, when they get in the position of like they owe a lot of money, like we have in the case, it's increasingly the case, and they also are a bind, and they have the printing press to print the money and get out of that, and you have a lot of people might be in that position.

Then you can print it, and then it could be devalued in there, And so history has shown, forget about today, history has shown that no currency has, every currency has either ended as being a currency or devalued as a currency over periods of time, long periods of time.

So it evolves and it changes, but everybody needs that medium of exchange and everybody needs that storehold of wealth, so it keeps changing what is money over a period of time.


Speaker 0: Again, maybe another dumb question, but...

Speaker 1: There are no such things as dumb questions, Tony. There you go.

Speaker 0: But what is money? So you've mentioned credit and money. Another thing that if I just zoom out from an alien perspective and look at human civilization, it's incredible that we've created a thing that's not, that only works because currency, because we all agree it has value. So I guess my question is, how do you think about money as this emergent phenomenon, and what do you think is the future of money? You've commented on Bitcoin, other forms.

What do you think is its history and future? How do you think about money?

Speaker 1: There are 2 things that money is for. It's a medium of exchange and it's a storehold of wealth. Yes. That's, so money, you know, so you could say something's a medium of exchange, and then you could say is it a storehold of wealth, okay? So those, and money is that vehicle that is those things and can be used to pay off your debt.

So when you have a debt and you provide it, it pays off your debt. So that's that process.

Speaker 0: And it's, I apologize to interrupt, but it only can be a medium of exchange or store wealth when everybody recognizes it to be a value.

Speaker 1: That's right. And so you see in the history around the world and you go to places, I was in an island in the Pacific in which they had as money these big stones and literally they were taking a boat, this big carved stone, and they were taking it from 1 of the islands to the other and it sank the the the piece of this big stone piece of money that they had and it went to the bottom and They still perceived it as having value So that it was even though it was in the bottom and it's this big hunk of rock, the fact that somebody owned it, they would say, oh, I'll own it for this and that. I've seen beads in different places, shells converted to this and mediums of exchange. And when we look at what we've got, you're exactly right, it is the notion that if I give it to you, I can then take it and I can buy something with it and that's, so it's a matter of perception, okay. And then we go through then the history of money and the vulnerabilities of money.

And what we have is, through history, there's been 2 types of money. Those that are claims on something of value, like the connection to gold or something. That would be, or they just are money without any connection, and then we have a system now which is a fiat monetary system. So that's what money is. Then it will last as long as it's kept a value and it works that way.

So let's say central banks, when they get in the position of like they owe a lot of money, like we have in the case, it's increasingly the case, and they also are a bind, and they have the printing press to print the money and get out of that, and you have a lot of people might be in that position. Then you can print it, and then it could be devalued in there, And so history has shown, forget about today, history has shown that no currency has, every currency has either ended as being a currency or devalued as a currency over periods of time, long periods of time. So it evolves and it changes, but everybody needs that medium of exchange and everybody needs that storehold of wealth, so it keeps changing what is money over a period of time. You

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Ray Dalio: What is Money?