Ray Dalio: Don’t Expect Central Banks to Adopt BTC; “Code Could Be Broken”

Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, says he doubts any central bank will adopt Bitcoin as a reserve asset. In a post on X, Dalio argued that Bitcoin’s fully public ledger offers “no privacy,” and warned there is a long-term risk that its code “could be broken,” making it easier for governments to exert controls. He added that while Bitcoin is “perceived by many as an alternative money,” money must function as both a medium of exchange and a store of wealth—“and the latter is more important.” Dalio noted he holds “some Bitcoin,” but “not much.” 

Dalio’s privacy concern aligns with his view that state actors require discretion in reserves management—something a public, traceable ledger cannot provide. His code-risk comment echoes disclosures from BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which cautions that advances in mathematics and computing—including quantum computing—could one day undermine the cryptography securing Bitcoin. BlackRock’s filings also note that past software flaws in digital-asset systems have exposed users or enabled theft, and any broad loss of confidence in crypto code would likely hit Bitcoin’s value. 

For now, neither BlackRock nor Dalio suggests an imminent technical break; rather, both flag a tail risk that grows with future computing power. That distinction helps explain Dalio’s stance: he keeps a small BTC allocation as a hedge, but sees gold as the sturdier long-term store of value and views central-bank adoption of Bitcoin as unlikely.