THE UNITED STATES, CRYPTO & WORLD WAR III

After the SEC's recent actions against crypto staking and even the most compliant of US-based crypto companies, I ask if the US government's increasing hostility to crypto is an inevitable consequence of its reckless handling of the world's current reserve currency. And are the 'powers that be' willing to push the world to total war in an effort to protect America's dollar-based hegemony?

Has the US been abusing its privileged position?

To appreciate the full implications of the US authorities’ hostility to crypto, we have to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. For better or worse, the United States dollar has, since World War II, served as the world’s reserve currency - used for the lion’s share of international trade.

So, it's not surprising that the Federal Reserve’s recent interest rate hikes, aimed at combatting inflation at home, have hurt other countries - especially those saddled with now unaffordable dollar-denominated debt. Needless to say, watching Americans complain about inflation, and hike rates to combat it, hasn’t been easy for those impacted abroad - many of whom were already experiencing far higher inflation in the first place.

Remember, in many countries suffering from high inflation, cryptocurrencies, including stablecoins, have proven instrumental in protecting individuals’ and businesses’ wealth. This has been especially true in Latin American countries like Argentina, across Africa, and in nations like Lebanon and Turkey.

This brings us to the Ponzi scheme known as the US dollar.

According to the New York Times, the US is now on track to add a staggering $19 trillion in new debt over the coming decade. Sure, as we are seeing now, there are some, especially Republicans, who raise concerns and feign attempts to reign in government spending (illustrated by the regular debt ceiling farce), but the notion that the US could ever balance its books has long gone.

So, the US will need to keep those money printers running. Luckily for the US government, having control (yes, I know, the Fed is supposed to be an independent entity, but come on) of the world’s reserve currency means it can do this without the risk of hyperinflation. This is because, under the current system, other countries will still need to get hold of those dollars to pay their debts and trades. Yes, there’s some balancing going on there with interest rates and the US government’s own dollar-denominated debt interest payments. But, the point is, if the US didn’t control the world’s reserve currency, its financial situation would long ago have become completely untenable.

And, until crypto came along, the US could relatively easily enforce its will globally - courtesy of its unrivaled military power. Illustrating the scale of this power, according to the Institute for Policy Studies, in 2021, the US defense budget of $801 billion represented 39% of global military spending - more than the next nine countries combined.

The US dollar really is backed by bombs and guns. For a long time, this ensured international compliance. Any country that dared rock the boat regarding the US dollar, soon found itself in an ‘uncomfortable’ situation.

Crypto can’t be bombed or starved

But then a new technology came along. One not controlled by any particular nation or state, but by internationally distributed networks. That was, of course, crypto. As soon as bitcoin went live back in early 2009, the days of US global financial hegemony were potentially numbered. No one in the US government or banking institutions realized it at the time, but the die had been cast.

Because of its distributed, cryptographic nature (both technologically and socially), the new technology was able to proliferate and mature without the opposition of US economic or military power. Fast forward to today, and individuals, businesses, and governments around the world have a choice of fully functioning ‘off-the-shelf’ alternative ways to make payments and store wealth.

However, despite those of us in the crypto community having been involved with decentralized tech for over a decade, cryptocurrencies have appeared as something of a bolt from the blue to the geriatric political and establishment classes. Indeed, their belated and clumsy attempts to suppress cryptocurrency (including the FTX/SBF false flag operation) show just how little they understand the crypto space.

Anyway, the point is, crypto has, for the first time, given a viable way for nations to start pivoting away from the US dollar to alternatives, without facing crippling economic and/or military reprisals. Put simply, crypto can’t be bombed or starved.

The United States is a house of cards

Sure, this loss of centralized control is also affecting other nations and regions, but they aren’t losing the power of controlling the world - and that is the key difference. Other nations and regions can transition, even if somewhat painfully, to economic models that at least allow for crypto to exist. The United States simply can’t. The United States is now structured in such a way that it is entirely dependent on the US dollar remaining the global reserve currency.

This is, at its most fundamental level, because the United States’ huge spending, particularly on its military, can only be sustained through ever-increasing borrowing. This, in turn, can only be sustained if it controls the world’s reserve currency. Without military superiority, the US loses its clout on the world stage and ordinary Americans will suddenly find themselves living in a very different economic reality.

And, while maintaining the US as the global reserve currency is critical to maintaining US military power, it is also vital to maintaining the vast domestic security apparatus - which is, in itself, vital to propping up the American system. Consider the levels of civil disorder we’ve seen over the past few years in the US, and the number of firearms held by private citizens, and then imagine how quickly things could spiral out of control if funding for law enforcement and domestic security was suddenly slashed.

This is why, despite the current perceived power of Silicon Valley and the familiar US tech giants, the entire US system is a house of cards. A total collapse could very well be triggered by the BRICS nations promoting the widespread adoption of a petrodollar alternative, at the same time as the continued adoption of crypto at the individual, business, and national levels.

The fact that central banks around the world have been hoarding physical gold over the past year, is plainly indicative of a growing unease with the current global system. Indeed, some would say it's a blatant indication that trust in the US and its currency is evaporating rapidly.

Why crypto’s success means World War III is now inevitable

It is against this reality that the outlook for cryptocurrencies and the Orwellian central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) must be considered.

Cryptos can never be accepted by the US government without fatally undermining its own power. Of course, they also can’t say this outright for fear of revealing just how precarious the United States’ position in the world now is. So, they will launch a CBDC to try and displace true cryptos - portraying themselves as white knights protecting the 'little people.'

But, the powers that be in the US also know that its citizens are seeing the rise of crypto elsewhere in the world. For example, just look at the gulf between crypto products and services now available to US residents and those available to residents of many other countries. Sure, US residents still have access to more than Chinese residents, but it’s pretty woeful!

So, if the US government can never accept crypto, they can’t hide crypto from the population indefinitely, and they certainly can’t stop other countries from adopting it, what’s going to happen? It seems the only logical answer is to employ the very instrument that the continued funding of is preventing the US from accepting crypto in the first place - the military.

Hang on a moment. Didn’t I just argue that the problem, for the US government at least, is that it can’t bomb or starve crypto? That decentralized crypto networks make it impossible for the US to use its military might as a means to enforce its will internationally. Well, yes, I did. But, there’s a caveat to that. I was referring to the type of military actions seen post-World War II. 'Policing' actions if you will. The kind of war that Americans watch on television, but that doesn’t require a full total war economy and mobilization. Total war is a different matter altogether.

In a total war, governments can easily ride roughshod over civil liberties and rights, nationalize entire economic sectors, confiscate private wealth, imprison without charge or due process, and send whoever they want into the meat grinder. And, when the war has ended, there’s a ‘Great Reset’ as everything is adjusted to the new post-war reality - shaped only by the victors, of course.

In late January, I explained why some, including Trends Research Institute founder, Gerald Celente, believe we are already engaged in the opening acts of World War III. Several weeks on, and I’m more convinced of this than ever. No one is even discussing de-escalation. No one has addressed why, if the US, NATO, and EU were so keen to protect Ukraine, they failed to lift a finger back in 2014 when the Russians actually invaded. Instead, the west seems to be ramping up aid to Ukraine in a way that ensures they can keep the Russians checked, but not actually win. It’s almost like they want the war to continue escalating on a predetermined timeline.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not for a second defending Putin or saying I support the Russian invasion. Far from it. Back in 2014, I think NATO and the EU should have acted decisively - called Russia’s bluff. Instead, we had to watch as an internationally recognized country was invaded by ‘little green men’ with woke western correspondents refusing to call them Russian, even though they were wearing Russian uniforms (minus the flag patch, of course), driving Russian vehicles, using Russian aircraft, speaking Russian, and coming from Russia.

Smoke and mirrors on a vast scale

I strongly suspect that Ukraine is a pawn in a much bigger game. Russia was provoked and a simmering war was established - just on low heat for the time being, but one that could be turned up and used as and when needed in the future. A war in Europe was always going to be much more useful as a distraction and justification for any appalling evil grand plan than a faraway war - somewhere like Afghanistan, for example.

As I write this, NATO is about to start delivering formidable western main battle tanks, has pledged ‘long range’ weapons, and looks increasingly likely to commit fighter jets in the near future. Russia has repeatedly declared each one of these a ‘red line.’ Meanwhile, reports suggest China may start supplying Moscow with lethal aid. It seems only a matter of time before NATO is in open conflict with Russia (and possibly a wider alliance including China, Iran, Belarus, Syria, and North Korea). If that doesn’t constitute a World War, then nothing does.

So, are the great powers, led by the United States of America, on some suicidal mission to destroy the world out of sheer pigheadedness? Do those in charge relish watching the body bags pile up and cities burn? Or, do they truly believe they are in a fight for survival because a new world is rising, driven by decentralization, and there’s no room in it for them?

Has this all been anticipated anyway? Was the lifespan of the current global economic and financial system always finite, and a Great Reset always expected - using the same tried and tested format of a great war?

Or, is this all smoke and mirrors on an unimaginably epic scale, of which the crypto revolution, Great Reset (in the economic context), pandemic, and global war are all just distractions? Is something else coming, something much, much bigger?