There is a storm coming, and it is economic in nature. If you ask me, we're already in it. This is the currency wars. It is not certan which currency will come out of the wars as the victor. Maybe nothing will change, and the world will think and use the USD for everything in the future. On the other hand, a large cabal of international businesses may band together and form their own currency (Libra?). I like to think that the future where Bitcoin is the world reserve is inevitable. But it is not. In reality, any number of things can happen. Might we see Bitcoin dethrone the USD and all other FIAT currencies in the next decade? Perhaps. We're going to find out as we're in the midst of a world currency war as we speak.
FedCoin
Right now, were on a Fedcoin system. Most of the world thinks and communicates in USD. It is the international language of business and commerce. Even Bitcoin is priced in USD, thats how powerful it is. To be the world reserve currency is to have the world think of value in terms of one currency. Inside the borders of each country, they have a fedcoin. If your national currency isn't already hooked up to a digital ledger, it will be in the future. Governments will actually have their own digital currency of sorts. Most institutions are calling these Central Bank Digital Currencies, or (CBDC's). These digital forms of money stand to erode rights and freedoms in ways that are difficult to imagine. We already see this playing out in China, where money can be taken from your bank account if facial recognition technology detects that you have jay-walked.
Although, they also stand to make the workings of a government much more fair, transparent, and efficient. Accounting problem within governments tend to be extremely unreliable, error prone, and even corrupt. Take Canada's Pheonix Payroll system for example. It is estimated that this software (built by IBM) will cost the Canadian government $2.2 Billion due to mismanagement of government payroll and accounting. Maybe countries could use a good blockchain to record everything. This may even reduce fraud and corruption, and increase accountability within our own governments.
The Business Coin
This is a bit of a wildcard, as I am not convinced one truly exists yet. When I say business, I mean BIG Business. International, multi-billion dollar companies that own and control a currency. The world saw the first attempt at this in 2019, when Facebook suggested that they would build a cryptocurrency called Libra. While on the surface, their mission seems noble; Provide financial services to the 1.6 Billion unbanked individuals on the earth. Digging a little deeper, we must ask ourselves. Do we really want business, with interests of their own, to be in control of our money? I think this is worst case scenario. Possibly even worse than the USD remaining the world reserve currency for the next 50 years.
A business coin would serve the interests of the businesses, even more than the USD already does. If you're the arbiter and controller of a currency, then you're essentially a bank. To illustrate how bad this could be, lets examine a quote found on Twitter in 2011.
Give a man a gun and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank and he can rob the world.
This perfectly illustrates the dangers of having a centralized owned and operated banking institutions in charge of the money. If business were to obtain the ability to control money, then I fear our problems would only become much worse.
Bitcoin is the Only Hope
The only currency in the world that stands a chance against both big business and governments, is Bitcoin. Let me clarify, I ultimately think that Ethereum, Ripple, and all other cryptocurrencies are ultimately run by people, and businesses. Bitcoin is not, it is primarily run by individuals. I am not talking about who controls the most hash power, or runs the most nodes. I am talking about who runs nodes in general. Bitcoin has the most grass-roots infrastructure, that I think in the long run, indicates that it is primed to take the helm as the Peoples Currency. Mind you, I do think the entire cryptocurrency movement bolsters and strengthens Bitcoin, I don't see them as having the underlying properties that make Bitcoin completely unique. Those properties are
1. The Founder (Satoshi) is and was always anonymous. Furthermore, they have never touched their reserves, which accounts for 5% of the total supply.
2. Bitcoin's Path Dependence. The success of a cryptocurrency is path dependent. No other cryptocurrency can take the path of bitcoin. It was created out of nowhere, at the end one of the worst financial crisis in history. It was underground for almost two years without much of any value. Then it rose to legitimacy over the course of a decade through the narrative of digital gold.