Billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio has issued a stark warning to the global economy as US President Donald Trump threatens tariffs and seemingly unpredictable economic policy.
In a conversation Tuesday with CNBC reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Dalio said the financial order was “collapsing” and warned of behavioral changes in how central banks treat fiat currencies.
According to the hedge fund manager, both fiat holders and “the people who need it” are concerned about each other, creating “huge problems” in the future.
“Fiat currencies and debt as stores of wealth are no longer held by central banks in the same way as before, so… there has been a change,” Dalio said. “The market that moved the most last year was the gold market, which fared much better than the tech market and so on.”
sauce: Ray Gallio
Dalio’s comments came hours after President Trump threatened to impose tariffs on European countries after leaders pushed back on the president’s public statements questioning Denmark’s “ownership” of Greenland.
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Dalio said in December that President Trump’s economic policies, including those affecting digital asset regulation, could be “significantly weakened in the 2026 midterm elections and reversed in the 2028 elections” if Democrats were able to regain control of one or more chambers of Congress.
The US president is scheduled to visit Davos on Tuesday to attend talks at the World Economic Forum.
Cryptocurrency leaders gather in Davos
In addition to Trump and other world leaders, a number of executives from crypto companies are scheduled to travel to Switzerland this week for WEF events.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong reported from Davos on Monday to talk with world leaders about “how cryptocurrencies can update financial systems” and said the company will push for tokenization to “democratize access to capital markets.” Armstrong added that he will discuss with bank executives the Digital Asset Market Structure Act, which is being debated in the U.S. Senate after the bill’s rate hike was postponed last week.
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