Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

Ray Dalio Warns Tucker Carlson Central Bank Digital Currencies Could Give Global Governments Total Control

Screenshot/YouTube/Tucker Carlson

Billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio warned Daily Caller News Foundation co-founder Tucker Carlson that he believed Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) would be adopted and that there would be privacy issues for consumers during a Monday episode of “The Tucker Carlson Show.”

 Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said in 2025 that the central bank would not create a digital currency during his tenure, which ends in May, CNBC reported. Dalio said on Carlson’s show that CBDCs would eliminate privacy and give the government significant control over those who use them.

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“There’s a great deal of appeal because of the fact that it’s easy and so on … I think it’ll be done … but what happens in the digital currency — of course it’s easy to transact and so on — and it’ll be like money market funds, I think … If they’re not able to offer interest — there will be a debate,” Dalio said. “Probably they won’t be, but then they’re not an effective vehicle to hold it in because you’ll have the depreciation. You’d rather hold it in a money market fund or a bond. But that’s debate.”

Dalio explained that while CBDCs could help clamp down on illegal conduct, they could also give the government a new ability to tax people.

“There will be no privacy, and it’s a very effective controlling mechanism by the government. What I mean is, all the transactions will be known,” he said. “All transactions done with digital currencies will be known, which is good for illegal activities, getting control of illegal activities, but it also means that the government has a great deal of control. ”

“For example, they can tax that way. They can take your money. They can establish foreign exchange controls and the like,” he added. “So that’s something that will be an increasing issue, particularly for international holders of that currency, because they might feel, let’s say, if you’re a Frenchman and they wanted to have sanctions, they could take your money. So there’s the privacy issue of that.”

Carlson chimed in to say that the government could “shut off” individuals holding the CBCDs purely for political reasons, with which Dalio agreed.

“So those kinds of issues enter into it. For those reasons … I don’t think that you’re going to see the development of central bank digital currencies to be of a magnitude that it’s going to be that big of a deal,” the billionaire said. “I think that doesn’t mean it won’t grow, but I don’t think it’s going to be a big deal.”

President Donald Trump issued a Jan. 23, 2025, executive order barring federal agencies from establishing, issuing or circulating CBDCs. The order states that CBDCs “threaten the stability of the financial system, individual privacy, and the sovereignty of the United States.”

Trump on Jan. 30 nominated former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh to succeed Powell.