Blockchain and Digital Currencies: Catalysts of Geopolitical Rivalries and Economic Realignments

The world's economic future is being reshaped by blockchain technology and digital currencies and the country that leads the way may also be the country that the world increasingly turns to. Blockchain challenges the hegemony of traditional financial intermediaries and reserve currencies such as the US dollar by facilitating decentralized, transparent, and secure financial systems. These currencies provide countries with the means to circumvent conventional payment networks, improve financial inclusion, and exert supremacy in international commerce. Blockchain-based solutions will create pathways around reliance on Western-led financial institutions enabling both the de-dollarization of emerging economies. And as the race is on to exploit the technologies behind them, they are likely to reshape the international political economy, creating new partnerships while widening economic divides.