Ray Dalio has issued another warning, adding to his comments last month about weakening fiat confidence. | Source: Getty Images
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Key Takeaways
Ray Dalio says CBDCs are a privacy and control risk.
Zcash advocates are using the moment to pitch privacy coins.
Dalio’s CBDC fears fit into his bigger macro warning.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio made headlines this week after issuing a stark warning that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) will soon be prominent across the U.S. and will lead to a dramatic loss of financial privacy.
The comments have led to a flurry of chatter online, including from former Donald Trump adviser Thor Torrens — who claimed that Zcash is the answer to “fixing” financial privacy concerns.
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Dalio’s interview with Tucker Carlson has now been viewed over half a million times, with most of the social media coverage focusing on his concerns about CBDCs.
During the discussion, the billionaire investor questioned whether central bank digital currencies would even be attractive to hold.
He noted there is an ongoing debate over whether CBDCs would offer interest.
“If they’re not able to offer interest… then they’re not an effective vehicle to hold it in,” Dalio said, arguing that savers would likely prefer money market funds or bonds to avoid depreciation.
Still, his primary concern centered on privacy and state control.
“There will be no privacy,” Dalio warned, emphasizing that “all transactions done with digital currencies will be known.”
While he acknowledged that such transparency could help authorities combat illegal activity, he cautioned that it would also hand governments sweeping new powers.
“They can tax that way. They can take your money. They can establish foreign exchange controls and the like,” Dalio said.
He added that politically disfavored individuals could potentially be “shut off,” and suggested that international holders of a currency might fear sanctions or asset seizures.
At the same time, Dalio downplayed the likelihood of CBDCs becoming dominant.
Despite the risks he outlined, he said he does not expect their development to be “that big of a deal” in terms of scale.
Advocates Push Zcash
In response to Ray Dalio’s comments on X, former Trump adviser Thor Torrens claimed that: “Zcash fixes this.”
The comment reflects a broader push from privacy-focused crypto advocates who argue that Dalio’s warnings about surveillance are what privacy coins were built to prevent.
Zcash (ZEC) is a privacy-first crypto that allows users to send funds either transparently or through shielded transactions.
It uses zero-knowledge cryptography to keep transaction details private. Supporters say this design directly addresses the core risk Dalio described.
Zcash, however, has faced its own controversies over the years. Regulators and compliance advocates have criticized it, arguing that strong privacy tools can obscure illicit activity.
The project has also weathered internal governance and leadership tensions.
Most recently, those tensions spilled into the open after a group of key developers left the Electric Coin Company (ECC), the original organization behind Zcash.
We are all in on Zcash. We need to scale Zcash to billions of users. Startups can scale, but nonprofits can't. That's why we created a new Zcash startup.https://t.co/ZurjfTxnPipic.twitter.com/ksnwLewpPp
The departure does not mark an end to Zcash development. Instead, the same developers, led by Josh Swihart, regrouped under a new independent structure.
The team has now launched a for-profit startup called cashZ, formed immediately following their exit from ECC.
On Jan. 8, Swihart wrote: “We are all in on Zcash. We need to scale Zcash to billions of users. Startups can scale, but nonprofits can’t. That’s why we created a new Zcash startup.”
Banks Losing Confidence In Fiat, Claims Ray Dalio
The CBDC comments come as part of a broader warning Dalio has been delivering about structural shifts in the global financial system.
Speaking to CNBC on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the billionaire said “the monetary order is breaking down.”
In his view, central banks are no longer holding fiat currencies and sovereign debt in the same way they once did, pointing to changing capital flows and reserve allocations as evidence.
“You could see it in the numbers of the central banks,” Dalio said, adding that financial coverage tends to focus narrowly on equities while overlooking broader capital movements.
Dalio also warned that trade tensions could morph into what he described as “capital wars,” in which countries grow reluctant to hold one another’s debt.
“Both the holders of U.S. dollar–denominated debt and those who need it — the United States — are worried about each other,” he said.
If countries that hold U.S. debt become uneasy while the U.S. continues to expand supply, Dalio suggested, the imbalance could become a significant pressure point in the global financial system.
JUST IN: BILLIONAIRE RAY DALIO JUST SAID THAT THE CURRENT MONETARY ORDER IS "BREAKING DOWN" AND "FIAT IS NO LONGER A CENTRAL BANK ASSET"
Kurt Robson is a London-based reporter at CCN, specialising in the fast-moving worlds of crypto and emerging technology. He began his career covering local news in Cornwall after graduating from Falmouth University with First Class Honours in Journalism. There, he cut his teeth on everything from council meetings to missing swans.
He quickly rose through the ranks to become a frontline journalist at several of the UK’s leading national newspapers. Over the years, he has interviewed musicians and celebrities, reported from courtrooms and crime scenes, and secured multiple front-page exclusives.
Following the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurt shifted his focus to technology journalism—just ahead of the AI boom. With a natural curiosity and a trained eye for emerging trends, he has found a new rhythm in reporting on innovation.
At CCN, Kurt's work focuses on the cutting edge of crypto, blockchain, AI, and the evolving digital world. Drawing on his background in people-first reporting and his deep interest in disruptive tech, Kurt delivers stories that are insightful, entertaining, and human-centric.
