Rumor Mill: New Reserve Currency May Rock U.S. Dollar in October (Op-Ed)

This is a different kind of thread, since the related article is an Op-Ed and is more opinionated than factual, with that said, the technology and premise has been around for a bit and the general consensus among cryptocurrency community is that a new currency is among the horizon.

The article is written from the standpoint of a non-american so it kinda is more interesting to read and see another point looking in. While I'm not 100% on board about China being the next economic powerhouse, due to it's manipulation of it's own economics placing it in a relatively likeminded boat as America, however if they create the proper cryptocurrency, than all bets are off.

My take from the whole issue is that the American Dollar's days are limited, for the simple fact that it's so involved with corruption. A digital currency operating on a blockchain with security features in place like the inability to duplicate ( i.e. Counterfeit ) and the ability to carry data with every transaction ( meaning it doesn't have to just be currency, it can be a network for voting, contracts, file sharing and much more ).

The major issue of having a digital currency on a blockchain is to prevent the excessive printing of more currency, to keep the total amount to a define and permanent variable. With every node that connects, that copy of the blockchain is downloaded, creating multiple copies of the same network preventing any manipulation from someone messing with their network, since once they mess with it and connect, they download the legit blockchain from the other nodes.

This technology is in it's infancy, however it's more powerful and legit in it's infancy than any other currency has been their whole existence.

There already are altcoins ( Cryptocurrency created that isn't bitcoin are called altcoins ) that can act as digital contracts, it's called NXT

There is also Bitcongress that is working on creating a voting platform on the blockchain.

There is also an altcoin that when you mine it, it uses your PC to help scientists crunch data to help cure diseases called Foldingcoin .

I believe someday soon, we'll have a new currency that doesn't just buy you a meal or re-up your netflix, but will also provide a free type of internet or connect a person's home devices and appliances to the blockchain and make your devices pay for themselves. The future of economics doesn't have to be one sided and bleak, it can be a utopia of equality and creative problem solving.



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Westerners are funny people. Westerners have never experienced currency devaluation, EVER! “The Almighty Dollar” has ruled the world their entire lives. Telling a Westerner there might be a problem with the U.S. Dollar is like saying the sun might not show up tomorrow morning. It has never happened; could never happen! Well, it turns out the U.S. Dollar isn’t as “almighty” as it used to be, and some new global currency might be ready to shock the world, literally.

And no, I’m not talking about Bitcoin.

a reply to: Tranceopticalinclined

There is so much value tied up to Dollar being the world currency - there is very little in this world which would kill it. I guess, today acceptance of dollar as reserve currency is so strong, folks are actually moving into it, despite heavy devaluation (QE) efforts by FED.

If there is a currency one would see dying soon - that would be Euro.

a reply to: deckdel

Oh agree that the dollar is the top dog, it's the world's most used currency. And also that the Euro is taking a back seat as well.

But my main school of thought is that these are old world currencies, that it's working for now but barely in many senses. We have this new technology of digitized currency, but it won't just stop there, I had said once before, that because this is digital, it's malleable and is only limited in many cases to the developer's imagination and creativity.

Right now, you can help be part of the network and receive a small fee from your actions, but because of power consumption that " small fee " you receive isn't profitable as much as you'd like. Fast forward a few breakthroughs and I'm sure that power consumption issue will go down dramatically due to renewable energy. So there is still a chance that this future of cryptocurrency would become a income source to many by simply turning on their mining hardware and pointing it at a pool to mine on.

Just think of this, if we adopt a cryptocurrency, EVERY transaction is recorded, meaning we'd be able to follow much of the spending from our governments. Fraud would be a matter of hunting down transaction ids and reversing wallet addresses and eventually ips. It's not 100% but has been proven to be possible, with every day that we have bitcoin and altcoins we have more time for problems and bugs to appear and figure solutions to make it that much better. I've not seen that done with the dollar.

In many cases, we're already creating the ultimate cryptocurrency by experimenting with all the variants today.

I understand the dollar's strong death grip on the world, but at the same time, a new currency with better incentives will easily drive focus away from the dollar, in my opinion, it's only a matter of time.


Thank you for commenting

Good post OP. I am a crypto fan myself. I struck a nice chunk of change by mining Litecoin all the way back in 2012/2013. Haha mined on a laptop and made oodles even.

Cryptocurrency is the future. No doubt about it. Of course government sponsored cryptos will be the thing. But i believe and hope Bitcoin will always be around as the sort of 'underground crypto.'

Anyways. Blockchain says it all. You listed many of the reasons, the blockchain system is PERFECT for exposing money corruption. It can also be used for countless things. We could vote on a blockchain. This technology will change the world in many ways besides currencies.

Honestly crypto was just a bit too ahead of its' time. If Bitcoin were invented in 2020 we would have ALL been using it 3 years later. We will still get there. The slowness is mainly because the old folks, the idea of crypto goes entirely over their heads.

There are even VERY few ATSers who understand the implications of cryptocurrency and the blockchain.

a reply to: lightedhype

Very very true, I actually run a help site for cryptocurrency, one of the few sites that are non profit in the cryptocurrency community. It's been a pet project of mine for the past 3 years, I started on a free host and simple drag n drop front page to a drupal powered bootstrap bundle of love, currently am revamping the whole site, from plain ole boring drupal to a nice new bootstrap theme of love that I mentioned.

I am in contact with many altcoin devs and we talk about the scams, the bugs and the future of the whole concept almost daily if we can cut the banter out in time that is.

I do get what you mean about it being ahead of it's time, the majority of the world basically just learned to use the internet and it's social media fun, so them really seeing what blockchain tech can do is a few years out and a few economic disasters away.

Soon™

The term "economic powerhouse" as it relates to nations is soon to be antiquated. The economic powerhouses of tomorrow will be corporations and conglomerates of individuals. This is our dystopian future. And I wish i was just being a bit on the emo side...but this is the truth.

Or, my belief of what the truth will be.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

You're very true, I feel the best way we as the average folks can combat this issue, is to form open sourced companies.

We kinda have them already but in small doses via various fanclubs and social media traffic groups.

The solutions for tomorrow rest in the creative minds of today and the determination of our forefathers.

a reply to: Tranceopticalinclined

Social platforms are a boondoggle. The problem with social platforms is audience and noise. Its hard to have discourse when the audience is at a constant roar of unnecessary noise.

Facebook - its where our delicate ego's get validated, and where people learn to embrace borderline traits such as Munchausen (the prayer requests often outnumber decent content 2:1). Its also where narrowmindedness is galvinized as a result of mob mentality.

Twitter - A soapbox for people with incomplete ideas that fit within the character count limit. Its great for people with small thoughts....but big ideas take far more than 130 characters.

LinkedIn - Self aggrandizing professional networking

All the others (Snapchat, Instagram, etc) - If 130 characters strains your vocabulary, just post a picture. No need for expansive vernacular.

The dollar may be the top dog, not because it's so strong or backed by much but because of the petro dollar. As the petro dollar goes so does the dollar. How's the petro dollar program looking these days?

I think they are referring to the SDR global currency.

originally posted by: Woetra
I think they are referring to the SDR global currency.

I was replying to deckdel, my bad I should have specified instead of doing generic response. Sorry

originally posted by: Tranceopticalinclined

My take from the whole issue is that the American Dollar's days are limited, for the simple fact that it's so involved with corruption.

Ha. That makes the American Dollar nearly permanent! You're gonna fight the Fed, and all the powerful criminals in the world? Good luck.

originally posted by: Reallyfolks
The dollar may be the top dog, not because it's so strong or backed by much but because of the petro dollar. As the petro dollar goes so does the dollar. How's the petro dollar program looking these days?

Do you know what a 'petro dollar' is? It was the money earned by mideastern OPEC members and recycled back into US banking system. The phrase came in the 1970's, when suddenly the gulf princes had huge amounts of money to throw around.

At the moment, the petro states look pretty screwed, and the US dollar is looking pretty awesome.

Here's a hint: the bond market is much more powerful than the petroleum market.

The idea that bitcoin or any other unofficial cryptocurrency will suddenly take over from the US dollar is utterly preposterous. There is a minuscule transaction infrastructure for bitcoins. By contrast, you can buy and sell 10 million USD versus EUR (euros) with a mouse click and a tiny spread, and with a phone call you could get a 'yard' (a billion) if you had capital and a broker.

And most importantly---there is NO investment market in bitcoin. By this, I mean by time-deposit contracts with interest.

Because there are no institutions with trust: you would need to hand over bitcoins, and be assured that at the end of the period, you had a very high chance of getting all your bitcoins, plus a few more, back.

At the moment, nobody even trusts an exchange broker for immediate transactions, because so many have been scams or incompetent.

By way of immense contrast, if you give dollars to the US Treasury or euros to the German Treasury, you WILL get your money back plus interest. There are institutions which check this, and if some people steal, there are government agents who are likely to arrest them. It took a few hundred years of banking since the Renaissance to get this far.

There is an enormous, titanic, elephantine gulf between bit/altcoins and the common monetary system.