TL;DR
- Ray Dalio warned that CBDCs are advancing as a global model of state-issued money that deepens public control and replaces the neutrality of cash.
- These currencies eliminate financial privacy by giving the State full visibility and enabling automatic taxation, fund freezes, and exclusions from the system.
- Dalio argued that the programmable nature of state digital money enables direct coercion and points to gold as a safeguard against political control.
Ray Dalio stated that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are advancing as a virtually inevitable outcome on a global scale. His warning is not about improving the system, but about installing a state tool for direct control over money and citizens. They do not represent a technological leap, but a mechanism designed to expand State power over financial life.
CBDCs Are a Financial and Political Control Weapon
Dalio argued that a CBDC effectively eliminates financial privacy. A digital currency issued by a central bank grants authorities full, real-time visibility into every transaction, every balance, and every movement. That level of oversight turns money into a permanent monitoring system, where user autonomy disappears.
The programmable nature of CBDCs only deepens that control. Dalio warned that governments could impose automatic taxes, freeze or confiscate funds, enforce capital controls, and exclude individuals from the financial system. Money stops being a neutral medium and becomes an instrument of administrative and political coercion. Access to funds becomes conditional on criteria defined by central power.
Dalio also noted that these currencies allow restrictions on how money is used. A CBDC can limit where it is spent, within what time frames, under what conditions, and with which counterparties. Sanctions, blocks, and prohibitions can be executed automatically. In that framework, financial freedom ceases to exist as an operational principle.
Another key issue is value erosion. Dalio expects that most CBDCs will not offer yields. Digital balances would steadily lose purchasing power, mirroring the depreciation of fiat currencies. The user absorbs the inflationary cost and is left without protection options within the system.
Gold Is the Answer
The United States appears as a temporary exception. Dalio recalled that an executive order signed in 2025 banned the creation of a U.S. CBDC and that in February 2026 the Treasury confirmed there are no active or developing projects. That resistance shows awareness of the risks tied to state control over money.
Dalio reiterated his support for gold as a store of value. He defined the metal as an asset that does not depend on an issuer, cannot be programmed or blocked, and does not respond to political decisions. In the face of a state-run digital money model, gold stands as a direct defense against the loss of financial freedom and the use of the monetary system as a tool of control
