Investor and “Rich Dad Poor Dad” author Robert Kiyosaki warned investors to pay attention to keeping Bitcoin (BTC), gold and silver through listed funds and saying that they are not replaced on paper for the real work.
Kiyosaki compared ETFs to having just a “image of a gun” for self -defense, useful in good times but useless in a crisis. He said that ETF’s assets such as Bitcoin and make precious metal more accessible to daily investors, but they do not give investors physically possessed the underlying raw material.
He wrote:
“Sometimes it is best to have real gold, silver, bitcoin and a gun.”
Kiyosaki’s skepticism is not new, he has previously told his followers to dump ‘fake money’, which means Fiat -Spuututa and turns to assets such as bitcoin, gold and silver as a hedge against inflation and a weakening US dollar.
He argued that paper claims on hard assets can become worthless if the institution that spends them does not have enough reserves. He added that a crisis of confidence can activate a run on an ETF or bank that does not have sufficient liquidity, which risks collapse.
ETFs are exploded in popularity as more investors are exposing to cryptocurrencies and precious metals without dealing with cold portfolios or safes.
Various Bitcoin ETFs, introduced this year in the US, regularly exchange billions of dollars in shares. But that convenience costs a cost, Kiyosaki argues: you buy a claim, not the active itself.
However, ETF experts such as Senior Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas believe that such fears are unfounded. He told Cointelegraph that ETFs are subject to strict guarantees and legal separation between issuers and preservators
He said:
“All ETF shares are connected to the actual bitcoin; it is a ratio of one by one, there is no paper.”
Balchunas acknowledged that the crypto community is often suspicious of traditional finances, but noted that the ETF sector had operated on for 30 years with “a sterling reputation”.
Balchunas said that rich Bitcoin holders may be safer with the help of ETFs, because self -declaration can make them goals for theft and ransom schemes. He added that physical gold and silver also bear storage and security costs that many retail investors cannot afford, and a regulated fund is perhaps the better gamble for them.
The debate emphasizes a broader tension between proponents of decentralized assets and the traditional financial system. Although products such as spot Bitcoin ETF’s billions have brought in billions and have opened digital assets for a wider audience, skeptics such as Kiyosaki believe that nothing more than personal property goes up in a crisis.
