Economic war, the rise of nationalist movements, economic protectionism, diminished freedom of expression, human rights violated… In recent years we have seen tensions at both national and international levels.
Power plays and the shifting balance since the end of the Cold War have made the international climate tense. The US and China would like to impose leadership. This leadership is contested by some nations who would like to see a multi-polar world and not a bipolar world as during the Cold War. The problem for countries that want to be more autonomous is that they are dependent on trade or communication infrastructure controlled by certain countries. For example, many businesses depend on the dollar as their currency for international trade. By using the dollar, they expose themselves to American legislation. The USA can therefore take advantage of this to control, monitor and coerce these companies. China also has targeted control over companies that interact with its territory.
Blockchain technology offers some solutions. Why?
The answer can be summed up in one word: decentralization. The decentralization of communication networks (data transmission) makes it possible to avoid the control of data by centralizing powers in terms of digital data (USA, China and Russia mainly).
Currency sovereignty recovered. In international trade, small states are often dependent on other currencies (mainly the dollar, yen or euro). Being able to trade without having to undergo the legislation of other countries, cryptocurrencies offers a real opportunity. That is what North Korea is often criticized for. Many other states use cryptocurrencies in occasional or repetitive ways: Turkey, Venezuela, Albania, Tunisia, Iran (TBC), Brazil, Colombia, etc. However, this method requires bilateral agreement. This method cannot be generalized at least for the time being. In the case of North Korea, it is very difficult to understand the level of involvement of bitcoin in its monetary capacity.
It is therefore possible that in some cases, bitcoin is used not to regain monetary sovereignty but to circumvent international sanctions. This is a difficult point to clarify and I cannot give you precise information in view of my current knowledge. So that will be the subject of another clause.
Reduced vulnerability of communication structures. Decentralized a communication system (this is the very nature of the blockchain) makes it less vulnerable to attacks. Careful though, it doesn’t make them inviolable. But a centralized computer server or a single site is a much easier target to attack than a blockchain. Recently the blockchain of the Ethereum Classic (ETC) was attacked twice (attack 51%). It is more than necessary to evaluate the security of a blockchain to look at the validation system of the latter and the number of copies of the blockchain that are saved. A multitude of other factors also come into play to understand the strength of a blockchain. They are never identical. To understand them, we have to take the time to understand them.
A power recovered via decentralized finance (DEFI) for small states that were set aside from centralized finance. Businesses and individuals also have a very important card to play on this field. Dapps are also a way to reclaim technologies that were mainly reserved for the most powerful.
It is not a means of expressing power but rather a vehicle for the transmission of commercial capacity and technological development. The great powers are not harmed in its developments since they also derive wide benefits from it. They simply do not have empirical control.
