Dalio Backs Bitcoin Over Bonds as Standard Chartered Lifts $100K BTC Forecast

Billionaire investor Ray Dalio is urging investors to favor gold and "a bit of Bitcoin" over government bonds, warning that the United States could face a debt crisis within the next three years. Speaking on Friday, the Bridgewater Associates founder recommended allocating 10% to 15% of portfolios to gold to reduce risk, while overweighting gold and BTC relative to debt assets. Dalio, who has historically been cautious on Bitcoin, pointed to mounting political and geopolitical tensions as justification for the shift, marking a continued evolution from his 2022 stance that a 1% to 2% Bitcoin allocation was "reasonable."

Standard Chartered may be underestimating Bitcoin's near-term upside, according to Geoff Kendrick, the bank's global head of digital asset research. In a Friday note, Kendrick said BTC could move toward its all-time high of $126,000 before year-end, with the recovery potentially accelerating after October 6. He noted that the latest rally has been driven largely by short liquidations, while spot Bitcoin ETF inflows have started to recover and low open interest could attract more investors as prices rise. "For the first time this year there is now a risk my end year forecast (of USD100k) is too low," Kendrick wrote. The bank previously cut its year-end target to $100,000 from $150,000 in a February 12 report.

Meanwhile, MANTRA's native token plunged 18.5% from its 24-hour high to a record low shortly before MANTRA Chain stopped producing blocks. The team announced a precautionary halt to the blockchain over what it described as an unexplained incident, raising fresh concerns about operational stability. The token's sharp decline underscores the vulnerability of mid-cap crypto projects to technical disruptions and investor sentiment swings.