Dalio Warns of US Order Shift as OpenAI Unveils Jalapeño Chip, SpaceX Prices $25B Bond

Crypto News

Ray Dalio, founder of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, has warned that the US-led global order is shifting rapidly following a recent ten-day visit to China. In a lengthy post published June 18, Dalio argued that Washington's restrained response during tensions with Iran signaled to Asian leaders that the US lacks the will to defend its hegemony, drawing a parallel to Britain's imperial decline after the 1956 Suez crisis. He described China rebuilding a modern “tribute-type” system based on economic incentives rather than military dominance. Dalio flagged Taiwan as the pivotal variable, citing its semiconductor centrality with the remark that “there is no AI without Taiwan.”

SpaceX has completed a $25 billion corporate bond sale, expanding the deal from an initial $20 billion target after orders reportedly reached roughly $90 billion. The offering comprised five senior tranches maturing between 2031 and 2056, with coupons ranging from 5.35% on short-dated notes to 6.65% on the longest maturity. The company said most proceeds will repay an existing bridge loan, with the remainder directed to general corporate purposes. Despite the strong demand, the stock slipped to $149 early in the session, briefly below its $150 listing price. CEO Elon Musk's net worth has fallen to $957.1 billion from a post-listing all-time high of about $1.315 trillion.

OpenAI has unveiled its first custom AI chip, codenamed “Jalapeño,” developed jointly with Broadcom and optimized for inference — the stage where trained models run live in production. The company said early tests showed superior performance per watt versus today's leading accelerators, a message clearly aimed at Nvidia's market dominance. President Greg Brockman framed the silicon as part of a long-term infrastructure strategy to lower costs and broaden access. Development took roughly nine months, and OpenAI called it the first in a multi-generation computing platform. The move mirrors in-house chip efforts already underway at Amazon, Google's Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta.

The US dollar index pushed to 101.798, its highest level since mid-May, after last week's Federal Open Market Committee meeting struck a hawkish tone. Futures markets now price roughly a 40% probability of a 25-basis-point rate hike by December, according to CME FedWatch data, while the odds of a hold rose to 18.1% from 14.2%. The Korean won weakened past 1,540 per dollar in overnight trade, touching 1,548.80 intraday before profit-taking near 1,550 capped the move. Falling oil prices have eased inflation concerns even as month-end rebalancing models point to continued dollar strength into the close of the period.

Global lender HSBC released survey data showing that while 57% of US investors now use artificial intelligence for financial tasks, only 7% said AI was the biggest influence on their latest major investment decision, underscoring a persistent trust gap. The bank also expanded its tokenized deposit service to the US in April 2026, building on platforms already running in Hong Kong, Singapore and the UK to let corporate clients move dollar, euro and pound balances on blockchain rails around the clock — a regulated cousin of algorithmic stablecoins. HSBC separately projected healthcare venture funding could reach $70 billion in 2026, up from about $60 billion last year.

Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook said roughly half of US small-business employers are now using AI in some form, with 71% of adopters reporting productivity gains. Speaking at a Cleveland Fed symposium, Cook cited the central bank's Small Business Credit Survey and noted the findings contradict the common assumption that larger firms hold the advantage in AI deployment. She emphasized that companies with fewer than 500 employees make up 99.9% of US businesses and have generated 61% of net new jobs since 1995. The remarks marked the tenth anniversary of the survey's nationwide expansion.

These developments sketch a single arc: capital and policy are reorganizing around AI infrastructure even as macro conditions tighten. COINOTAG's aggregate market data underscores the caution, with the Fear and Greed Index at 17 of 100 in Extreme Fear, Bitcoin dominance elevated at 70.3% as traders crowd into the largest asset and rotate out of the broader altcoin complex, and total crypto market capitalization near $1.71 trillion. With Bitcoin holding around $60,000 against a dollar index at multi-month highs, the same hawkish Fed signaling that lifted the greenback is pressuring risk assets. The tokenization push from major banks and the accelerating AI-chip race suggest the structural story remains intact even as near-term sentiment stays defensive.