Ricardo Salinas Pliego, the Mexican billionaire and chairman of Grupo Salinas, has turned his investment philosophy into something resembling a Bitcoin manifesto. With approximately 70% of his liquid portfolio allocated to Bitcoin as of March 2025, Salinas isn’t just dabbling in crypto. He’s gone all-in on the thesis that Bitcoin beats traditional assets, real estate included, as a long-term store of value.

In May 2025, Salinas went so far as to call real estate a “bad investment,” using considerably more colorful language in the process. His remaining 30% sits in gold and gold mining stocks, meaning his entire liquid portfolio is essentially a bet on hard, scarce assets.

From 10% to 70% in four years

Salinas first publicly disclosed holding Bitcoin in November 2020, when it represented around 10% of his liquid investment portfolio. By March 2025, that allocation had ballooned to roughly 70%. Reports suggest the figure may have climbed even higher since then, ranging between 70% and 80% by early 2026.

His conviction runs deep enough that he authored a book in 2025 titled “The Bitcoin Enlightenment,” aimed at educating readers about the cryptocurrency’s fundamentals.

The case against real estate

Salinas’s criticism of real estate centers on a few core arguments. First, there’s liquidity. Real estate is famously illiquid. Selling a property takes weeks or months, involves intermediaries, and comes loaded with transaction costs. Bitcoin, by contrast, trades 24/7 on global markets.

Salinas also emphasizes scarcity. Bitcoin’s hard cap of 21 million coins is baked into its protocol. Real estate supply, while constrained by geography, can be influenced by zoning laws, government policy, and construction. Salinas emphasizes Bitcoin’s resistance to government interference as a key advantage, noting that nobody can print more Bitcoin.

Salinas has signaled interest in integrating Bitcoin at Banco Azteca, one of Mexico’s largest retail banks, which could expose millions of banking customers to cryptocurrency for the first time.

Salinas has predicted Bitcoin could eventually reach a value of $1.5 million. The prediction itself reflects his time horizon — he’s holding Bitcoin as a generational asset, not trading it.

Bitcoin has historically experienced corrections of 50% or more during bear markets. Salinas appears willing to stomach that volatility in exchange for what he sees as superior long-term upside.