“Right now the integrity of the dollar is in question, people don’t trust US power, US is withdrawing from the international sphere, the international institutions we set up in 1944 are fraying; nobody really trusts them anymore.”— Nic CarterNic Carter is a Partner at Castle Island Ventures and co-founder and Chairman of Coin Metrics. In this interview, we discuss the seizure of Russian Central Bank assets by the G7, the demise of US hegemony, and a multipolar multi-reserve world.- - - - Whilst it is arguable whether America’s geopolitical reach can be classed as an empire, the decline of its hegemonic power is compared to the passing of great empires of the past. Such analysis shows that there are no fixed dates to assign to the actual fall of empires; declines are marked by a prolonged unwinding of influence and cohesiveness. Nevertheless, the atrophying of empires are signposted by critical dates: the sacking of Rome by the Visigoths in 410; the humiliation of Britain caused by the 1956 Suez Crisis; the symbolic impact on the USSR of the fall of the Berlin wall on November 9th 1989. Currently, we are living through equally tumultuous times, and February 26th 2022 may be one such date for the history books. It was when the G7, led by the US, seized $630B of Russia’s foreign reserves.With the grim humanitarian impacts of the Ukraine Russia conflict being witnessed on a daily basis, this seemed like an appropriate non-violent measure. However, its scale and likely impact is and will be unprecedented. The role of the US dollar has been eroded over the past few decades as economic sanctions have been increasingly deployed as a coercive tool of power. Nevertheless, the G7 freezing Russian access to its foreign assets is a crossing the Rubicon moment. No longer will the US dollar be a unifying store of value across the world. The ramifications are huge.This episode’s sponsors:Gemini - Buy Bitcoin instantlyBlockFi - The future of Bitcoin financial servicesSportsbet.io - Online sportsbook & casino that accepts BitcoinCasa - The leading provider of Bitcoin multisig key security.Ledger - State of the art Bitcoin hardware walletCompass Mining - Bitcoin mining & hostingLVL - Bank on BitcoinBCB Group - Global digital financial Services-----WBD476 - Show Notes-----If you enjoy The What Bitcoin Did Podcast you can help support the show by doing the following:Become a Patron and get access to shows early or help contributeMake a tip:Bitcoin: 3FiC6w7eb3dkcaNHMAnj39ANTAkv8Ufi2SQR Codes: BitcoinIf you do send a tip then please email me so that I can say thank youSubscribe on iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | Deezer | TuneIn | RSS FeedLeave a review on iTunesShare the show and episodes with your friends and familySubscribe to the newsletter on my websiteFollow me on Twitter Personal | Twitter Podcast | Instagram | Medium | YouTubeIf you are interested in sponsoring the show, you can read more about that here or please feel free to drop me an email to discuss options.Show more
