Quick Summary
- Billionaire value investor Jeremy Grantham says Bitcoin and crypto will “fade away with a whimper”
- Grantham, co-founder of GMO, has been bearish on Bitcoin since at least 2017 – calling it a bubble, a mania, and comparing it to tulips
- This is the 400th+ time a prominent figure has declared Bitcoin dead since 2013
- Bitcoin is down ~50% from its 2025 all-time high of ~$126K, currently trading near $60K
- On-chain data shows supply at a loss at all-time highs – historically a bottom signal, not a death rattle
What Happened
Billionaire investor Jeremy Grantham – the 86-year-old value investing legend who co-founded GMO and famously predicted the 2000 dot-com crash and the 2008 housing bubble – has a new prediction for Bitcoin.
It is going to “fade away with a whimper.”
In a recent interview covered by Decrypt, Grantham doubled down on his long-standing skepticism of cryptocurrency, arguing that the hype will gradually dissipate and the asset will slowly lose relevance rather than ending in a dramatic crash.
“We have seen this pattern before,” Grantham reportedly said. “Every mania eventually exhausts itself. Tulips, the South Sea bubble, the Nifty Fifty, dot-com. Crypto will be no different.”
Except there is one problem with that comparison: Bitcoin is not a company. It is not a stock. It is not a colonial trade route. It is a decentralized monetary network with a fixed supply of 21 million coins that has survived 16 years, thousands of articles declaring it dead, multiple 80%+ drawdowns, and a global pandemic.
And tulips did not have a 10,000,000%+ price increase over a decade and a half.
Why This Matters for Bitcoin
Every cycle follows the same script:
Stage 1: “Bitcoin is a scam, it is going to zero”
Stage 2: “Well, it is interesting technology but it has no value”
Stage 3: “Okay, maybe it has value but institutions will not touch it”
Stage 4: “BlackRock launched a Bitcoin ETF and Fannie Mae accepts Bitcoin as mortgage collateral”
Stage 5: “…wait, did not Jeremy Grantham say it would fade away?”
We are currently somewhere between stages 4 and 5.
What Grantham and his generation of value investors consistently miss is that Bitcoin does not fit their framework. It is not a company with earnings. It is not a commodity with industrial use. It is not a bond with yield. It is a new asset class – a non-sovereign store of value that exists outside the traditional financial system he spent his career mastering.
When your only tool is value investing, every asset that does not produce cash flow looks like a bubble.
The Love Is Bitcoin Takeaway
Here is what Grantham gets right: many people will lose money on crypto.
Most altcoins will indeed fade to zero. Speculative projects, NFT manias, and garbage tokens will disappear – exactly as Grantham predicts.
But Bitcoin is not any of those things.
The 86-year-old billionaire who called Mark Cuban’s failed hedge thesis is making the same mistake the smartest investors have made for a decade: confusing the casino with the savings account.
Bitcoin adoption continues. Spot Bitcoin ETFs hold billions, countries are building strategic reserves, publicly traded companies are stacking sats on their balance sheets, and the network has never once been hacked.
Does that sound like something that is “fading away with a whimper”?
The irony? Grantham is probably right about the broader market being in a super-bubble. He is right that AI stocks, real estate, and traditional equities are overvalued. He is even right that the Fed policies have created dangerous distortions.
But Bitcoin was not created by the Fed. Bitcoin is the response to the Fed.
When you understand that, “fading away” does not make sense anymore.
What Beginners Should Do Next
- Understand the difference between Bitcoin and “crypto” – lumping them together is the oldest trick in the FUD playbook
- Learn what self-custody means and why “not your keys, not your coins” matters
- Read about how Coinbase AWS outage exposed custodial risk – even the biggest platforms fail
- Ignore billionaire predictions and learn how Bitcoin actually works instead
FAQ
Who is Jeremy Grantham?
Jeremy Grantham is a British-born American investor, co-founder of GMO, and a famous value investor who correctly predicted the 2000 dot-com crash and the 2008 housing bubble. He has been consistently bearish on Bitcoin since 2017.
Has Jeremy Grantham been right about anything else?
Yes – he has been right about several major market bubbles. But he has been consistently wrong about Bitcoin specifically, which has survived every one of his “it is a bubble” predictions since 2017.
Is Bitcoin really going to fade away?
The same prediction has been made hundreds of times since 2013. Every time, Bitcoin has recovered and reached new all-time highs. Bitcoin has survived exchange hacks, regulatory bans, government FUD, 80%+ price crashes, and a global pandemic. “Fading away” does not seem to be on its schedule.
Is this financial advice?
No. This article is for education and entertainment purposes only. Do your own research.
How many times has Bitcoin been declared dead?
According to 99Bitcoins Bitcoin Obituaries, Bitcoin has been declared dead over 470 times since 2010. Jeremy Grantham prediction joins a very long list.
Final Thoughts
Billionaires will keep calling Bitcoin dead. It is what they do. Peter Schiff, Jamie Dimon, Warren Buffett, Nouriel Roubini – they have all taken their shots. Bitcoin keeps going.
The question is not whether a wealthy 86-year-old value investor believes in Bitcoin. The question is whether you understand what Bitcoin is well enough to make your own decision.
Do not let a billionaire prediction do your thinking for you.
This article is for education only and is not financial advice.
Billionaire Jeremy Grantham Says Bitcoin Will 'Fade Away With a Whimper' - He's Been Wrong for 13 Years
