Legendary hedge fund manager Cliff Asness recently amplified his criticism of Bitcoin advocates, slamming them as “Ponzi cultists” in his recent post on the X social media.
The founder of AQR Capital Management came to the defense of famed short-seller Jim Chanos, who he believes is “one of the GOATs.” Chanos is, of course, currently at loggerheads with members of the Bitcoin community due to his bearish Strategy (MSTR) position.
As reported by U.Today, Chanos recently confirmed that he was shorting the Strategy stock. At the same time, he revealed that he was buying Bitcoin directly as a hedge. This is a rather unorthodox bet considering that Strategy is the biggest corporate holder of the leading cryptocurrency.
Chanos believes that the premium that investors are willing to pay for getting corporate-wrapped exposure to the leading cryptocurrency.
Recently, Chanos slammed Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor for spewing “financial gibberish,” betting on the net asset value (NAV) multiplier eventually shrinking.
Earlier today, the short-seller took a jab at Saylor by pointing to insider activity at the company. The red dots on his chart show massive insider sales (that are often attributed to Saylor himself).
Like these…?! $MSTR https://t.co/SWBnQAHm34 pic.twitter.com/QmMSuptDn5
— James Chanos (@RealJimChanos) June 15, 2025
As reported by U.Today, Asness previously stated that he was “not a fan” of the leading cryptocurrency by market cap while also suggesting that it could be a bubble. That said, he previously stated that he would not go as far as calling it a scam.
The prominent quantitative investor earlier claimed that Bitcoin and the S&P 500 were the same things at different volatility levels.