[News Brief] Apr 22, morning | Ray Dalio: "U.S. stock market overly concentrated in AI mega-cap stocks"

President Trump: "There will be no tolls for passage through the Strait of Hormuz unless imposed by the United States for the United States."

President Trump said regarding transit fees in the Strait of Hormuz, "There will be no tolls unless they are imposed by the United States for the benefit of the United States."

The Strait of Hormuz is a key route for Middle Eastern oil shipments, and rising tensions in the region could lead to volatility in international oil prices and risk-asset markets.

Axelar Network: "Recent security incident was not caused by flaws in our network or IBC"

Axelar Network stated that its own network and the IBC protocol were neither attacked nor compromised in the recent security incident.

According to PANews, Axelar explained that the affected token smart contract was not developed, deployed, or managed by Axelar, and that an "infinite mint" vulnerability arose after two core security checks were removed in a forked CW20-ICS20-based version.

Axelar added that the fork altered the trust structure of the original contract but did not undergo a separate security audit. It also noted that anyone can deploy contracts for wrapping cross-chain assets via IBC, and that this incident stemmed not from a flaw in IBC itself but from security risks introduced during a third party's contract modification process.

Ray Dalio: "U.S. stock market overly concentrated in AI mega-cap stocks"

Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio warned that the U.S. stock market has become excessively concentrated in a handful of AI-related large-cap stocks.

According to Wu Blockchain, Dalio said market concentration has increased even as uncertainty remains high across what he described as the "five big forces": debt and monetary conditions, political and geopolitical shifts, natural disasters, and technological change.

He noted that past technology stock cycles repeatedly featured high valuations, major volatility, and uncertainty over long-term winners, arguing that such excessive concentration is difficult to justify.

Dalio said U.S. equities could post real returns of around -5% to -10% over the next 5 to 10 years, advising investors to build diversified portfolios with balanced risks.

Saylor: "AI was used in designing STRC"

Strategy founder Michael Saylor said AI was used in designing the treasury credit product STRC.

According to Wu Blockchain, Saylor said in a CoinDesk interview on December 20, 2025, that he had extensive discussions with AI about the STRC structure and aimed to create a monthly preferred stock product that would remain stable around the $100 level.

Saylor said the AI responded that while there was no historical precedent for such a structure, it was "completely legal and rational."

STRC had previously fallen to as low as $82.7 before closing at $88.8, fueling ongoing de-pegging concerns in the community.

Whale-linked address re-enters 3x leveraged ETH short after closing prior short position

A whale-linked address, 'pension-usdt.eth,' reportedly closed its entire Ether short position and then reopened a 3x leveraged short on Ether.

According to a report by Odaily citing on-chain monitoring data, the address currently holds a position of 871.3249 ETH, valued at about $1.5 million. Its current return is estimated at around 0.25%.