In chapter 2 of the ARC I'm currently reading (Paul Blustein's, King Dollar), there were a bunch of well-known (well worn, well-trodden?) quotes from mid-century policymakers and economists: the Triffin dilemma, exorbitant privilege etc.
Especially two stood out given the Reuters article on Russia using bitcoin that I just saw:
and Charles de Gaulle:
international commerce should rest on “indisputable monetary basis bearing the mark of no particular country." Gold is that, “eternally and universally accepted as the inalterable fiduciary value par excellence.”
awoke this morning to the following headline:
It's beautiful to see.
Russia is using cryptocurrencies in its oil trade with China and India to skirt Western sanctions, according to four sources with direct knowledge of the matter. While Russia has publicly encouraged the use of crypto and last summer passed a law to allow digital currency payments in international trade, its use in the country's oil trade has not previously been reported.
It's not exactly new, but Russia is a much bigger fish than those other small pariah states
Cryptocurrencies have already helped enable countries under U.S. sanctions such as Iran and Venezuela to keep their economies running while avoiding use of the dollar, the preferred currency for transactions in the global oil market.
Crypto would likely continue to be used in Russian oil trading, one of the four sources said, even if sanctions are lifted and the dollar can be used again. It is a convenient tool and helps run operations faster, they added.
An extreme, and obvious, use-case for Bitcoin's uncensorable payment property.
Waaay back when I wrote a piece on that ("Bitcoin Was Made For This: The Apex Of Apolitical") -- and as a hilarious consequence had journalists and European Union staffers call me to ask how Russia could avoid their sanctions. lol @ life.