David Edwards
Ricardo Salinas, the founder and chairman of Grupo Salinas, has significantly increased his exposure to Bitcoin, now allocating 70% of his investment portfolio to the cryptocurrency and related assets—up from just 10% in 2020.
In an interview with Bloomberg on March 4, Salinas stated he is “pretty much all in” on Bitcoin, with the remaining 30% of his holdings dedicated to gold and gold mining stocks. “That’s it. I don’t have a single bond, and I don’t have any other stocks,” he added.
This allocation likely excludes shares in Grupo Elektra SAB de CV, the publicly traded subsidiary of Grupo Salinas, which currently holds a market capitalization of 75.15 billion Mexican pesos ($3.64 billion), according to Google Finance.
Bitcoin as the “Hardest Asset”
Salinas reiterated his strong belief in Bitcoin, calling it the “hardest asset in the world” due to its fixed supply cap of 21 million coins. He advised investors to adopt a dollar-cost averaging strategy, gradually accumulating Bitcoin over time.
“Buy everything you can. It’s not going to go anywhere except up because the dynamics are such that it is the hardest asset in the world,” he asserted. “Not even gold is this hard. Your gold gets inflated at about 3% a year through additional production from mines. Bitcoin doesn’t. Never sell it.”
Salinas, whose net worth stands at $4.6 billion, first disclosed a 10% Bitcoin allocation in November 2020. By April 2022, he revealed at the Bitcoin 2022 Conference that his exposure had surged to 60%. The billionaire credited former Grayscale CEO Barry Silbert for introducing him to Bitcoin in 2012 or 2013, when he made his first investment at just $200 per BTC.
Bitcoin Adoption and Regulatory Hurdles
Salinas has long been an advocate for Bitcoin adoption in Mexico. Since at least 2021, he has sought to integrate Bitcoin into Banco Azteca, one of his company’s subsidiaries, to make it the first Mexican bank to support Bitcoin transactions. However, regulatory obstacles have hindered this effort.
His latest Bitcoin declarations come as he plans to separate Grupo Elektra from Grupo Salinas, allowing him greater control over the business.
