The world of cryptocurrency keeps progressing. Actually, we can expand this by stating digital assets.
Unfortunately, for many, it is not progressing like many anticipated. Such is the nature of technology. This is especially true when governments and Wall Street is involved.
In this article we are going to cover two stories that show how things are moving forward.
We start with the idea of cryptocurrency as a tool against oppression.
This is certainly a role we see crypto taking on. While most of the coins are not great medium of exchange, they can transfer value. At the same time, we see the explosion of stablecoins.
Since these are mostly tied to permissionless blockchains, only a private key is required to engage (along with the appropriate network fees).
Oppressors come in all forms.
To most, the first thought of oppression is from government. This, historically, was the main driver of tyranny although, in our era, we could add corporations.
One thing that most people jump to is the idea of a government suppressing its people. Again, that is the most common form.
However, it is not the only on. What about governments oppressing other governments. We see that a great deal these days. The US Government, in its foolishness, decided to weaponize the US Dollar. This is going to have impacts that are much greater than people believe.
Fortunately (or unfortunately), there are options.
Citing data from market intelligence platform Chainalysis, Bloomberg reports that stablecoin issuer Tether’s USDT is seeing increased usage at time zones correlated with major cities in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, including sanctioned nations such as Russia and Iran.
Here we see those pesky unintended consequences.
It seems those who are being oppressed by the actions of the US Government, and its allies, are not sitting back and taking it. Tether, which is ironically backed by US Treasuries, is seeing rise in adoption in many nations, including those that are sanctioned.
What is also interesting is this might not be the best stablecoin to use for this purpose since there is an entity behind it. Nevertheless, people are finding the utility, negating sanctions to some degree.
This is what happens when a decentralized system arises that is outside the control of governments and central banks.
Ultimately, we are going to see a game of whack-a-mole.
The governments might make progress with a few coins. For example, perhaps they are able to identify a Bitcoin wallet and isolate the ultimate move into cash. Or something similar could happen with an Ethereum wallet. Some coins could be frozen by going to the company behind it.
However, governments lose the numbers game. What happens when there are 25K coins or tokens to utilize? How are you going to monitor and stop hundreds of networks? It is likely there will be AI agents who have their own crypto that is utilized.
For years I felt that Ethereum would end up becoming a banker chain. This is why I was always optimistic about that coin.
We have seen many institutions including Blackrock bring out products tied to this blockchain. It is going to continue.
UBS has decided to go further into the game with the announcement of a money market fund on Ethereum.
Of course, this is not available to average people.
In a statement, the global wealth manager and multinational investment bank says the UBS USD money Market investment Fund token (uMINT) will be made available through authorized distribution partners.
We are seeing infrastructure being erected within the traditional financial system that is tokenized. Since we are dealing with institutional transactions, they are looking to move from traditional settlement to tokenization. This is a smart move.
It is difficult to see exactly how this will play out with regards to who will dominate. However, Blackrock is already seeking to make its BUIDL the stablecoin that institutions utilize.
Naturally, this is far from the vision of Satoshi, one where an alternative financial system was constructed outside the traditional banking system. As stated in the past, the industry spent years focusing upon green candles instead of building infrastructure that was truly decentralized.
Many cheered the entry of Wall Street, since it would help pump their bags. The problem is that, once in the door, Wall Street takes over.
This is precisely what is happening.
Nevertheless, we are seeing a great deal of development happening with Web 3.0. This is going to be the shift that gets realized. If we keep seeing the push to decentralized AI, crypto will invariably follow.
