The biggest Biden admin threat against Russia is not allowing Russia to trade in USD.
I have not seen that said here.
I only heard it a few days ago. Basically banks would stop doing business in USD with Russia. Our allies are on board with this.
It was mind blowing to me to hear it. I had never imagined such a thing.
This is why China is trying to get the crypto Yuan off and running. And why Russia and China are trading in non-USD. These are not the only examples.
This is why China is trying to get the crypto Yuan off and running. And why Russia and China are trading in non-USD. These are not the only examples.
The problem with that is crypto is traded in all currencies to all banks but only the major currencies matter all over again.
It is like saying gold is the only real money, but then again it is valued in dollars, pounds, yen and euros. Or it is much less valuable at the end of the day.
Gold is $1839 as of today. If you can only get $1650 but in Rubles as of tomorrow in Moscow then what? Because in a locked system the Russians will cannibalize their own. We wont.
Which brings us to Putin’s own personal wealth outside of Russia. He does not want it in many rubles. He does not want it in much gold. He does not want in much crypto.
Throw in the rest of the oligarchs, the whole team, and you have no money for paying Russian troops a few months into any war.
Freezing dollar trades with Russia also forces Russia to take rubles for oil and gas. Ouch!
Plus in the long run the US is moving to have an US stable coin. Will that come to dominate? Probably. Ironic. There might be a premium for the larger US treasury keeping the coin stable. Other stable coins are not trusted to remain stable.
The biggest Biden admin threat against Russia is not allowing Russia to trade in USD.
I have not seen that said here.
There is no way to enforce such a request. The US can require purchases from within the US be denied payment in US $. But if China wanted to buy from Russia using US $, as long as the currency is outside the US, there is nothing the US can do to interfere in that transaction.
What the US can do is try to block access to the banking system, which is something someone else posted (above) and has been worked on by China (and others) for some years.
What the US can do is try to block access to the banking system, which is something someone else posted (above) and has been worked on by China (and others) for some years.
Jerry very specifically said. That is exactly what the admin, the allies and central bankers would do.
There is no way to enforce such a request.
Actually, they do. The SWIFT interbank clearinghouse system is controlled by the US. This is the international equivalent of the routing number found on your checks. That would allow the US to cut off the ability of Russian banks to transfer funds in/out of any foreign bank. It was successfully used against Switzerland to force them to break their silence about American account holders and is currently used as a blunt weapon threat against all foreign banks to make sure they report accounts held by Americans.
Jeff
Jeff,
Sheepishly asking…why do you know that? LOL