VanEck CEO Jan van Eck has warned investors that the next U.S. financial crisis will originate in Washington rather than the banking system. He urged investors to hold real assets like gold and Bitcoin (BTC) as protection against government debt and spending. In an interview with Anthony Pompliano, van Eck stated, "This is going to be started in D.C. and no one can bail us out." He believes the U.S. will attempt to inflate its way out of debt, dismissing the idea that artificial intelligence (AI) will ease economic pressures.
Van Eck emphasized the importance of hard assets in portfolios, saying, "You have to have real assets, gold and Bitcoin in your portfolio." He remains a long-term Bitcoin bull, predicting higher prices in the future. Despite his bullish stance, Bitcoin's price was down by 0.2% in the past 24 hours, with retail sentiment remaining bearish.
Regarding the crypto market, VanEck is focusing on active management rather than adding more crypto products. He noted that most financial advisers struggle to choose between tokens like Avalanche (AVAX) and Ethereum (ETH). Van Eck believes layer-1 blockchains and trading platforms will survive, advising investors to either pick an index or an actively managed fund for broader exposure.
At the time of the interview, AVAX was trading around $8, flat over the last 24 hours, while Ethereum's price was at $2,240, up over 0.2%. Retail sentiment for both AVAX and ETH remained in the ‘bearish’ zone.