By Adam Tarlowski:
In the midst of what some are calling a “New Cold War,” an unlikely race has begun behind the computer screen.
The destination isn’t outer space, but rather the digital space in the clouds of the internet. Political pundits throughout the decade have debated whether a second Cold War is really upon us, but one thing is for sure – a new currency race is underway.
China appears to be leading, as they have been testing their Digital Yuan across the nation. Just a few days ago (7/31/20), Vladimir Putin made progress by signing a bill into law clarifying the legal status of cryptocurrencies in Russia as “property.” Advancements have been slow in the United States, but recently appear to have picked up as banks were given the green light to serve as crypto custodians. On a different front, several major multinational financial service companies and institutions are coming forward to enter the race. This list includes PayPal, Venmo, Fidelity, Visa, Grayscale and more.
To make matters more confusing, this is not a race between two major global powers, and the destination isn’t entirely clear. Major companies – public and private – are fighting over their share of retail space. Simultaneously, governments are fighting over the power of their national currency within the framework of digital evolution and adoption. Mixed into the chaos is Dave Portnoy, a self-proclaimed, “emperor of another universe,” arriving at planet Bitcoin, ready to inject his green hammer into the equation.
If Russia’s early victory with Yuri Gagarin in space is akin to China’s Digital Yuan leading the crypto race, this may just be the catalyst the U.S. needs to enter the fray. From the looks of it, though, the U.S. has continued to plant the American flag on fiat money rather than explore viable alternatives. The space race was the most unconventional conflict of the 20th century, and we may be seeing something eerily similar begin to unfold. History books may speak of cryptonauts instead of astronauts, cryptographic cold storage instead of underground bunkers, and “mooning” memes instead of moon landings. Fortunately for early adopters, the upside to this 21st-century digital conflict/space race isn’t M.A.D, Mutually Assured Destruction, but rather M.A.B – Mutually Assured Bullishness for digital currencies.