Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas has raised Bitcoin’s share of his liquid portfolio to 80%, up from a previously disclosed 70%, framing the move as disciplined value investing rather than speculation.
Speaking to CoinDesk, Salinas said he “would never buy the AI bubble,” drawing a sharp line between his approach and the surging enthusiasm driving capital into artificial intelligence companies and data-center investments.
Salinas accumulated Bitcoin throughout its eight-month slide from above $120,000 in October last year to roughly $60,000, deliberately adding to his position as prices declined.
He described his broader investment philosophy as resembling that of Warren Buffett, but built around a Bitcoin core rather than equities or fixed income.
“I don’t own stocks. I don’t own bonds,” Salinas said, outlining a liquid portfolio that sits almost entirely in Bitcoin, with the remainder held in gold and silver miners reflecting his family’s mining heritage in Mexico.
His only indirect exposure to the artificial intelligence sector comes through select Bitcoin mining companies whose data-center infrastructure could eventually be repurposed for AI computing workloads.
Salinas also endorsed Strategy Inc’s (NASDAQ: MSTR) Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock, known as STRC, calling the security a “no-brainer” for investors seeking dollar-denominated income, with the shares currently offering a dividend rate of roughly 11.5%.
He defended Strategy’s Michael Saylor against critics who have labeled the company a “Ponzi scheme,” saying such characterizations reflect “profound ignorance of what’s going on.”
The endorsement arrived at a turbulent moment for STRC, which recently closed near a record low of $88, well below its $100 issuance par value, prompting Strategy to suspend at-the-market sales of the preferred shares.
In response to the STRC pressure, Saylor called for “Bitcoin unity,” stating “the opportunity is bigger than the argument,” as scrutiny of the firm’s massive corporate Bitcoin treasury intensified.
Salinas also dismissed prominent Bitcoin skeptics including longtime gold advocate Peter Schiff and entrepreneur Mark Cuban, who recently sold most of his Bitcoin holdings, arguing the asset had “failed as a war hedge” during the US-Iran conflict.
Fundstrat’s Tom Lee characterized Cuban’s exit as a sign that crypto investors are “rage quitting” the asset class, a framing that underscores the broader sentiment challenge facing Bitcoin markets.
One day after Salinas’s comments, Galaxy Digital (GLXY) CEO Mike Novogratz offered a more cautious read on the market during an appearance on Anthony Scaramucci’s SALT podcast.
Novogratz said the market currently has “no energy” and “no new buyers,” pointing to a prolonged absence of fresh demand following Bitcoin’s extended decline from its highs.
He flagged growing pressure on Saylor over Strategy’s Bitcoin treasury, noting that the STRC pause limits the firm’s capacity to continue accumulating, a constraint that has handed critics additional ammunition.
Despite his caution, Novogratz urged long-term investors to give Bitcoin the “benefit of the doubt,” arguing the asset’s historical four-year cycle could reassert itself and reignite demand next year.
Novogratz has maintained a $100,000 year-end Bitcoin price target even as he has repeatedly observed that AI is “stealing crypto’s thunder,” the precise capital rotation that Salinas is now positioning his entire liquid portfolio against.
Bitcoin has declined more than 26% so far this year and is trading nearly 50% below its all-time high reached last year.
