Bitcoin Holds $80.8K as Dalio Flags Privacy Gap, Strategy Adds 535 BTC and ETPs Pull $858M

Bitcoin News

Ray Dalio has stepped into the long-running privacy debate, arguing that Bitcoin's radical transparency is precisely why central banks remain reluctant to add it to their reserves. The billionaire, who personally allocates roughly 1% of his portfolio to BTC, said transactions on the network can be monitored and potentially controlled, a feature private wealth tolerates but sovereign treasuries do not. Every transfer is permanently inscribed on a public ledger, and blockchain analytics firms can frequently trace flows back to entities even when wallet addresses appear pseudonymous. Dalio also flagged Bitcoin's tightening correlation with equities as a structural drawback when compared with gold's diversification profile.

Technical analysts are warning that BTC remains pinned beneath a multi-month ceiling that has repeatedly produced double-digit drawdowns. Bitcoin slid 2.25% to roughly $80,500 after another failed attempt to clear its 200-day exponential moving average near $82,580, a level that has rejected every rebound attempt since November 2025. Prior rejections from the same line triggered sell-offs of 25% and 36%, averaging a 30% drawdown. A repeat performance could pull spot toward $56,600, an area aligning with a long-term lifetime-support model that places macro floor zones in the mid-$50,000s and a secondary band near $46,760.

The Wall Street–Main Street divide has rarely looked wider. Bitcoin gained 11.8% in the previous month, its strongest run since April 2025, and has extended the rally close to $80,700, while the Nasdaq has surged 22% since April 1 to a record 23,235 and the S&P 500 has added more than 12%. Yet the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment gauge slumped to a preliminary record low of 48.2, with one-third of respondents citing gasoline prices and another third pointing to tariffs. Analysts argue institutional capital is pricing long-term productivity gains in AI and digital assets while households absorb persistent inflation pressure.

Geopolitics is now the dominant short-term driver as BTC hovers above $81,000. Iran's rejection of the Trump administration's peace framework pushed Brent crude past $104 in early trading, while the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed and the regional ceasefire holds by a thread. Last week's advance into the $80,000s was fueled by spot ETF inflows, treasury-company accumulation and optimism around a Clarity Act stablecoin compromise, but profit-taking stalled the bid mid-week. A whale carrying roughly $1 billion in BTC and $1 billion in ether liquidated heavily into Ethereum, pressuring the cross while bitcoin held its broader trend.

Strategy returned to the bid this week with a purchase of 535 BTC for approximately $43 million at an average price of $80,340 per coin, lifting total holdings to 818,869 BTC acquired for roughly $61.86 billion. The buy follows Michael Saylor's controversial admission that the firm could sell a portion of its stash for the first time, a stance later softened by his pledge to buy 10 to 20 coins for every one sold. Bitcoin's 23% Q1 slide forced a $12.54 billion unrealized markdown under FASB fair-value rules, producing a $2.2 billion deferred tax asset that explains the new flexibility. Position equals 3.9% of the 21 million circulating supply cap.

Capital is rotating decisively back toward regulated wrappers. Global crypto investment products attracted $857.9 million in net inflows last week, a sixth consecutive positive print and the strongest weekly total since late April. Bitcoin funds absorbed $706.1 million of that, lifting year-to-date inflows to $4.9 billion, while short-BTC vehicles recorded $14.4 million in redemptions as hedges unwound into the rally. iShares products from BlackRock led providers with $733 million, with assets under management across digital-asset funds climbing to $160 billion. Ethereum products snapped a losing streak with $77.1 million in inflows, and Solana and XRP vehicles drew $47.6 million and $39.6 million respectively, signaling broader risk appetite.

BTC trades at $80,864 with the 24-hour change a muted 0.19% and trend readings still pointing to an uptrend. Immediate resistance sits at $81,617, followed by $82,863 — a level that overlaps the 200-day EMA flagged by chartists. A clean breakout would invalidate the bear-flag thesis and open a path toward $89,065. On the downside, the $80,170 pivot is the line in the sand; losing it exposes $78,287 and the structurally critical $73,990. RSI at 61.84 reads firm without being overextended, and the bullish MACD signal supports continuation, but failure at the EMA would resurrect the 30% drawdown playbook toward the mid-$50,000s.