Bitcoin Price Flat as Ray Dalio Warns 'Something Worse Than a Recession' Looming

The billionaire hedge fund manager and Bitcoin enthusiast Ray Dalio has warned "something worse than a recession" could be about to hit the U.S.

Speaking to NBC's Meet the Press, the Bridgewater Associates founder said Donald Trump's aggressive pursuit of tariffs is leading to a "breaking down of the monetary order."

Dalio, who anticipated the 2008 recession, expressed concern about the value of money—and predicted that, unless the president's economic policies are properly handled, there could be "an international conflict in a way that is highly disruptive to the world economy."

Underlining the severity and significance of recent developments, he added: "This sort of breakdown occurs only about once in a lifetime."

Bitcoin and Ether's price have been highly sensitive to the ongoing drama surrounding the president's plans to impose tariffs on foreign imports, with Beijing bearing the brunt of Trump's ire.

But BTC nudged back up to $85,000 after the White House confirmed that smartphones and computers would be exempted from these tariffs—including devices manufactured in China.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives described the announcement as a "huge victory for big tech and tech investors" that would feed into the stock market on Monday.

It comes as a new CoinShares report reveals digital asset investment products have clocked up their third consecutive week of declines, with $795 million worth of outflows recorded last week.

Traders on prediction markets appear divided on what lies ahead—and according to Myriad Markets, there's just a 61% chance that BTC will be trading above the current level of $85,000 by the end of Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg Intelligence's senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone noted that BTC's year-to-date losses of 9% contrast sharply with gold's 25% rally over the same timeframe.

"Bitcoin and its millions of crypto dependents may require a rising U.S. stock market for buoyancy," he wrote in a note seen by Decrypt. "The Bitcoin/gold ratio could be shifting to a more profound track—simple reversion."

Edited by Stacy Elliott.