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in the middle of the battle for dominance in the 21st century. Whereas for most of the 20th century, the United States had a quasi-monopoly, especially after the fall of the USSR, the world has changed tremendously in the last 20 years. The US is no longer alone, it faces strong competition from China, as well as Russia which has made a strong comeback on the world stage. The deal of the century that spoiled American consumers with cheap products from China is no more. The new Chinese president, Xi Jinping, decided otherwise: the surplus part of the large inflow of USD towards China was no longer going back to the US, and the US government desperately needed the Chinese excess USD to finance itself. The endless growth of selling out US debt to China, which used to eagerly buy US Treasuries is over and is never coming back. The reasons are numerous: China now has its own imperialist dream and has already started the One Belt One Road, which it needs to revitalize the Old Sik Road. In fact: that is where the USD surplusses have ended up: harbors, bridges, and trainroads in Africa. And that, of course, is the ultimate betrayal in the eyes of the United States.
What started with a trade war is now a full-blown cold war with China.
President Donald Trump, who had been advocating tariffs to eliminate the U.S. trade deficit with China since the 1980s, decided to do it himself and won the Presidential election that gave him a first presidential term. He kept his word, punishing China with tariffs, but the desired effect did not materialize, in part because China retaliated. The conflict has now totally escalated and China seems to be able to use diplomacy to gain momentum. China has assumed a leadership position within the BRICKs. This also made it suddenly clear that Xi's plans had existed for a long time. Namely, the BRICKs dream of their own world currency, at the expense of the dollar. Yes, the Yuan. The decision to freeze Russia's dollar reserves, as well as to supply Israel with weapons, has pushed many countries towards China, which is already their largest trading partner and is now on a diplomatic peace offensive in the Middle East.
The technology war: Bitcoin vs CBDC-rat poison.
To become the global leader, you need to take out the current leader, and it seems that the development of a vibrant financial ecosystem based on blockchain, with the addition of AI, will play a key role. Both the United States and China are developing their own protocols. The Chinese communist party, crazy about total control and surveillance wants to replace the US Dollar with the Yuan, which will be completely under the control of the CCP and will rob all users of their rights, such as freedom of speech and financial privacy. Moreover, people will fall into the clutches of a social credit system through the Yuan-CBDC.
In the United States, there's still hope that the free market will embrace Bitcoin as the new currency. The only ones who advocate a CBDC are the shareholders of the Federal Reserve Bank, who see their powers erode if freedom wins. This fight is painfully obvious, partly because the Securities and Exchange Commission is trying to derail a Spot Bitcoin ETF by continually delaying approval. Even the American court rules that enough is now enough, while Big Capital, such as Blackrock is filing for an ETF. Americans, already under mass surveillance, stand to lose what's left of their freedom if they can not transact with Bitcoin. They will be enslaved when adopting a CBDC. The stakes are high for the whole world, but the fight might just be decided in the United States, still the biggest capital market, and despite its recent political failures, the most important trendsetter.
