• Hirom@beehaw.org
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    2 months ago

    Bitcoin finds a new use! Helping Russia finance its war of agression against Ukraine.

  • jarfil@beehaw.org
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    2 months ago

    Dedollarization has been tried before: Saddam did it, Gaddafi did it, now Putin wants to join the club?

    Wonder if the pattern will repeat 🤔

    • tardigrada@beehaw.org
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      2 months ago

      This has nothing to do with dedollarization imho but rather with circumventing sanctions. China has been refusing to use Swift over fear of Western sanctions. Now China and Russia might even use barter trades at larger scale by the end of this year.

      • lemmyvore@feddit.nl
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        2 months ago

        Trading is trading and they’d be risking sanctions whether they take payment with Swift or Bitcoin.

        • tardigrada@beehaw.org
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          2 months ago

          Yes, but for the West it’s just easier to block Swift than a decentralized network. But in principle I agree. That China and Russia haven’t obviously found something better to arrange payments than barter and a blockchain is a clear sign imo that they are in big trouble.

          • jarfil@beehaw.org
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            2 months ago

            Barter is not a unheard of way to conduct business, even between countries without sanctions. The SWIFT network itself has become a sort of barter system.

            I’m guessing in this case, they both distrust each other’s currency, so they might as well trade in Bitcoin as in any other currency they’d both trust more… if there was one.

            Still, the USD losing that chunk of trade, weakens the USD, which the US might feel the need to strengthen with some “decisive action”.

            • tardigrada@beehaw.org
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              2 months ago

              they both distrust each other’s currency

              Yes, I fully agree especially with this, but also the other views.

      • DdCno1@beehaw.org
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        2 months ago

        I wonder how quickly they reverse this decision if Ukraine manages to reach a certain nuclear power plant in a certain formerly Russian-controlled territory.

        • lemmyvore@feddit.nl
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          2 months ago

          I doubt they intend to mine it. For the Russian state is easier to acquire Bitcoin by hacking wallets than mining, and the plebs can’t afford the electricity.