Here’s What Happened in Crypto Today: Dalio Recommends Bitcoin, PayPal Launches Crypto Payments, Monero Faces Hashrate Attack
The cryptocurrency sector saw notable developments today, including a high-profile investment recommendation, a major payments platform expanding crypto acceptance, and a contentious event affecting a leading privacy coin’s mining network.
Ray Dalio Advocates for 15% Portfolio Allocation to Bitcoin and Gold
Legendary hedge fund manager and Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio has suggested that investors consider allocating approximately 15% of their portfolios to Bitcoin and gold. Speaking on the Master Investor podcast, Dalio highlighted the severe US debt crisis and associated currency devaluation as key reasons to hold these assets for their superior return-to-risk ratio.
Dalio stated, “If you were optimizing your portfolio for the best return-to-risk ratio, you would have about 15% of your money in gold or Bitcoin.” While he personally holds some Bitcoin, he expressed a preference for gold but emphasized that the precise split between the two depends on individual investor preference. This recommendation marks a significant increase from his earlier advice in January 2022 when he suggested a modest 1-2% Bitcoin allocation.
PayPal Rolls Out New Crypto Checkout Feature Supporting 100+ Tokens
In a move to strengthen cryptocurrency payments, PayPal announced the launch of a new checkout tool enabling US merchants to accept payments in over 100 cryptocurrencies. The feature supports major tokens such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), USD Tether (USDT), USD Coin (USDC), and XRP, among others.
This new tool integrates seamlessly with popular crypto wallets including Coinbase Wallet, MetaMask, OKX, Kraken, Binance, Phantom, and Exodus. Crucially for merchants, crypto payments will be automatically converted at checkout to PayPal’s stablecoin PYUSD or fiat currency, eliminating concerns about price volatility.
PayPal will charge merchants a transaction fee of 0.99% for crypto payments, which the company claims is about 90% lower than typical credit card processing fees—Visa’s fees, for comparison, start at 1.75%. This offering is primarily designed to ease cross-border transactions, especially benefiting small and medium-sized businesses, though it is currently limited to merchants based in the United States excluding New York.
Monero Network Faces Failed Hashrate Takeover Attempt by Qubic Pool
Privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) has recently experienced a controversial attempt by Qubic, a mining pool and crypto network led by Sergey Ivancheglo—co-founder of Iota—to wrest control of the network’s hashrate.
On June 30, Qubic revealed in a blog post that it had begun incentivizing CPU mining for Monero on its platform. The mined XMR was intended to fund buybacks and token burns to support the Qubic ecosystem. Ivancheglo admitted on social media that the plan involved using majority control of Monero’s hashrate to reject blocks mined by other pools, thereby making mining exclusively profitable within Qubic’s pool.
However, the Monero community swiftly reacted, leading to a dramatic reduction in Qubic’s hashrate from the top mining spot down to the seventh position as of Monday, mitigating the threat of a network takeover. The incident has sparked debate across the Monero community regarding network decentralization and the risks posed by such “economic attacks.”
Summary
Today in crypto, Ray Dalio’s bold recommendation underscores growing institutional interest in Bitcoin and gold as hedges amid economic uncertainty. PayPal’s new crypto payment feature aims to make digital currencies more accessible for merchants, while Monero’s mining community successfully defended against an attempted takeover that raised concerns about privacy and decentralization. These events highlight ongoing shifts and challenges in the evolving cryptocurrency landscape.