Óscar Alberto Pérez, ex-policeman and Venezuelan rebel leader died on Monday (7 April 1981 – 15 January 2018). Image Source: Newsweek.
This post is a preface to a series of posts in which I will begin to explore how technology and globalization are changing what we call 'currency' in all its forms: from Canada's sale of the country's total gold reserves in 2016, to the ups and downs of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, to the evolution of the Internet into an economy of value (and what that means).
For today, we start with a glance at Venezuela, where President Nicolás Maduro Moros last September planned that his country would abandon the Petro-Dollar and take up the Petro-Yuan. Since 1974, the American dollar has functioned as the de facto global currency because it was the main currency for oil purchases, and thus for all other commodities and trade.
Now that arrangement is changing, under the leadership of Russia, China, and Iran, as oil is being priced in the Chinese Yuan: "This is about the implementation of a huge, new alternative reserve currency zone, bypassing the US dollar." If you believe sources like Russia Today, we are watching the American Petro-Dollar die, and the period from 1974 to the present is dying with it, including its power structure, its key players, and its principles of control. This is the start of a new era.
Posts
