4 min readWe stand at a crossroads—a decisive moment in which the gravitational pull of monetary history is reasserting itself with unmistakable force. The global order is not evolving gently; it is shifting at speed.
This month alone, we’ve seen clear signs: a return to hard assets with gold rallying, Bitcoin following suit and a fading trust in the world's biggest fiat institution–the U.S. dollar– and therefore redefinition of geopolitical equilibrium.
Consider Japan. Long the bastion of yield suppression and the theatre of carry-trade acrobatics, it now finds itself contending with capital repatriation. Japanese investors are opting to buy gold rather than entertaining a 100-year U.S. government bond concept. That speaks volumes.
Capital that understands risk moves first. And right now, it is moving—decisively—away from foreign paper promises and toward domestic and enduring, intrinsic value.
From “The Art of the Deal” to the decline of American exceptionalism
The American playbook of dominance—built on discretionary deals and short-term thinking—is colliding with powers like China that operate on long timelines. They don’t have to worry about mid terms. They think beyond political terms, and their moves reflect that.
The U.S., meanwhile, has stepped back from its post-WWII role as global referee. With that withdrawal comes a new form of fragmentation: regional power blocs replacing global consensus. What does that mean for the dollar? Well, while it’s not the end of the dollar like many social media engagement hunters say, it’s likely the end of this dollar: the one we’ve known as hegemonic, unchallenged, and structurally dominant. It’s been ages that emerging powers are being discussed, they now are materializing. For over seven decades, the U.S. dollar has reigned supreme—backed by military might, petrodollar arrangements, and the perceived stability of American institutions. That foundation is eroding. We are witnessing the emergence of a new economic and financial infrastructure, one that no longer revolves solely around Washington, Wall Street, or the ashes of Bretton Woods. The politicisation of the Federal Reserve, erratic fiscal governance, and increasingly unilateral sanctions and currency weaponisation have led even longstanding allies to question the cost of dollar dependence.
What is a global currency?
An appropriate monetary system rests on three pillars: trust, stability and efficiency. As we’ve mentioned, trust has now worn thin. The latter two depend on infrastructure—a reliable one—which no longer characterizes the U.S. dollar powered by the SWIFT system. Therefore, the whole world is looking for an alternative. Europe is first among them—though its pivot to a central bank digital currency heavily influenced by the WEF former chairman is for sure a mistake Serge Bernstein and Pierre Milza will cover one day.
What seems a more appropriate answer is the direction taken by China: The Red Dragon has been methodically building its own financial operating system—anchored by the digital renminbi—reinforced by a merger of state-backed TradFi with hyper-scalable fintech. With moves to settle cross-border trade in digital yuan, development of alternative payment systems, and accumulation of gold reserves, the BRICS nations are collectively preparing for a world in which the dollar no longer sits at the center.
A new paradigm that territories like Saudi Arabia and UAE, and most China’s Asian counterparts, have started to prepare for decades. Unlike what many say, the motivation isn’t always ideological, it’s also pragmatic. Why rely on a monetary system controlled by a single nation whose internal political stability is increasingly uncertain?
Yet, the reality is that building a resilient economics network does not happen overnight. Especially when–even within new alliances–trust issues are a reality.
The real war is about monetary infrastructure
The good news for the rest of the world is that a non-partisan, neutral, trustless, innovation of the magnitude of the Internet is now able to address this need. Now is the time to mention Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining. Beyond being used as a store of value, Bitcoin is a monetary network. A trustless one, supported by a specific technology, the blockchain, which is dependent on a material infrastructure - the bitcoin miners. For those still unaware, it’s crucial to understand that Bitcoin miners are responsible for network overall security and processing transactions— they could choose not to, if your “profile” doesn’t suit them. The prevailing misconception is that mining is about cheap electricity or tax arbitrage. It was but it is not just that anymore. If you read the news, or CoinShares publications, you surely know by now that governments are awakening to a new kind of arms race. Not one fought with missiles or oil—but with hashrate. The term to define the energy used by Bitcoin miners. Securing Bitcoin mining hashpower is, in many ways, equivalent to securing financial autonomy and power. A country without domestic bitcoin mining capacity risks exclusion from the most secure, most neutral financial network on the planet. It has become a sovereign imperative.
Sheikh Tahnoun (TbZ) understood this early on. Under his directive, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, alongside GMX and G42, has committed significant capital both locally and abroad to secure access to compute capacities including the full mining stack. Even in France, quiet strategic dialogues with national energy provider EDF suggest serious ambition at the state level. Private actors, which often initiate innovation, have preceded them: from Blockstream to Tether, firms are investing heavily in mining infrastructure not for short-term gains, but for long-term resilience (Bitcoin Volcano, Bitdeer, Ocean). They are buying access to a permanent, censorship-resistant economic network. Bitcoin mining is becoming what oil and petrodollars once were: an axis of influence if not power. A pillar of independence. In this context, the digital gold rush for picks and shovels, in this context chips and electricity, highlights the geopolitical reordering.
As we see, the race for hashrate doesn’t occur in a vacuum: it emerges alongside a deeper shift in a monetary war.
