"Big Short" star Michael Burry warns: Bitcoin crash triggers over $1 billion sell-off in gold and silver

Once accurately predicting the 2008 financial crisis and the movie “The Big Short” — the real person behind it, Michael Burry — warned that Bitcoin’s recent plunge is triggering a severe chain reaction in the financial markets, with even gold and silver not escaping the fallout, turning into “ATM machines” for institutional investors.
On Monday, Michael Burry posted on Substack, pointing out that as the cryptocurrency market plummets, many institutional investors and corporate finance managers may be forced to sell other profitable assets to cover losses or meet liquidity needs, leading to a chain of deleveraging effects. He wrote:

Due to the decline in cryptocurrency prices, it appears that up to $1 billion worth of precious metals will be sold off by the end of the month.

Michael Burry believes that at the end of January this year, the simultaneous decline in gold and silver was mainly caused by collective selling by speculators and corporate finance managers. As Bitcoin holdings suffer losses, they rush to sell profitable tokenized gold and silver futures to reduce risk, and this “sell strength to support the weak” operation directly dragged down the performance of precious metals.
Bitcoin briefly dropped below $73,000 early this morning, a 40% retracement from recent highs. Michael Burry states that this correction exposed the fragility of the underlying crypto infrastructure and poses a threat to companies holding large amounts of Bitcoin, such as Strategy (MSTR).
Michael Burry’s outlook on Bitcoin is extremely pessimistic. He said:

From a fundamental usage perspective, I see no reason for the downward trend of Bitcoin to slow down or even stop.

He warns that if Bitcoin’s price further drops to the $50,000 level, not only could mining companies face large-scale bankruptcies, but the tokenized precious metals futures market could also completely collapse, turning into a “black hole with no buyers.”
Regarding Bitcoin as a “digital safe haven asset” or “gold substitute,” Michael Burry is even more dismissive. He believes, “Corporate reserve assets are not a permanent shield,” and the market’s widespread hope that corporate and institutional entry, and including Bitcoin on balance sheets, can provide long-term support for prices is fundamentally flawed.