Key Points
- Ray Dalio said investors should favor gold and “a bit of Bitcoin” as concerns over rising US debt and the possibility of a future debt crisis increase.
- Standard Chartered’s Geoff Kendrick said Bitcoin’s recent recovery could push the cryptocurrency toward its previous all-time high of $126,000, raising the possibility that the bank’s $100,000 year-end forecast may prove too conservative.
- MANTRA’s token fell to a record low after MANTRA Chain halted block production over an unexplained incident, with transactions and asset transfers temporarily frozen while the team investigates.
Billionaire investor Ray Dalio is urging investors to consider gold and “a bit of Bitcoin” as protection against growing US debt and the possibility of a future debt crisis.
The Bridgewater Associates founder said investors could consider allocating between 10% and 15% of their portfolios to gold while maintaining greater exposure to gold and Bitcoin relative to debt assets.
Dalio pointed to rising political and geopolitical tensions and estimated that the United States could face a debt crisis within roughly three years unless policymakers change the country’s fiscal trajectory.
His position remains more favorable toward gold than Bitcoin. Dalio has previously argued that Bitcoin cannot replace gold as a store of value and has raised concerns surrounding privacy and quantum computing.
However, his latest comments represent a continued evolution in his view of Bitcoin as a potential portfolio hedge. In 2022, Dalio described a 1% to 2% Bitcoin allocation as reasonable.
Standard Chartered Questions Its $100,000 Bitcoin Forecast
Bitcoin could potentially return toward its previous all-time high of $126,000 before the end of the year, according to Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered.
Kendrick said the latest Bitcoin rally has been driven largely by short liquidations, while inflows into US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have also begun recovering.
He also pointed to relatively low open interest, suggesting that additional investors could return to the market if prices continue rising.
Kendrick said there is now a possibility that Standard Chartered’s $100,000 year-end Bitcoin forecast could prove too low.
The bank had previously reduced its year-end Bitcoin target to $100,000 from $150,000 and lowered its Ether target to $4,000 from $7,500.
The latest comments therefore represent a shift in the bank’s near-term outlook as Bitcoin’s recovery gains momentum.
MANTRA Token Hits Record Low After Blockchain Halt
MANTRA’s native token experienced a sharp decline after MANTRA Chain stopped producing blocks and the project announced a precautionary halt following an unexplained incident.
According to CoinGecko data, MANTRA fell from approximately $0.005060 to a record low of $0.004126 around 11:00 pm UTC on Thursday.
The token later recovered toward $0.0044 but remained down roughly 10% over 24 hours. Trading volume increased substantially, rising nearly 600% to approximately $24 million.
MANTRA said it was aware of an incident affecting the chain and had halted the network while investigating.
The project said it did not yet have a root cause or timeline to provide and that endpoints and transactions had been frozen.
MANTRA Halt Freezes Network Activity
The network halt prevents assets from moving on MANTRA Chain and has also prompted affected cryptocurrency exchanges to suspend deposits and withdrawals.
The incident leaves users waiting for further information from the MANTRA team before normal network activity can resume.
The lack of an identified root cause adds uncertainty around the situation, particularly as the token reached a record low during the disruption.
For now, the project’s immediate priority is determining what happened and maintaining control over network activity while the investigation continues.
Closing Insights
Today’s developments highlight three different forces shaping the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin continues to attract attention as a potential hedge against long-term fiscal and monetary risks, while improving market flows have encouraged Standard Chartered to reconsider whether its $100,000 year-end target remains sufficiently high. At the same time, the MANTRA incident demonstrates the operational and technical risks that remain within blockchain ecosystems, where an unexplained network disruption can quickly translate into severe market pressure and temporary restrictions on asset movement.
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