RE: The Russian CryptoRuble and the future of currency wars
I'm not so sure. The top dogs also have everyone below fighting to get up there. They have managed to maintain their position of power so far through the US dollar being so dominant, and through the total manipulation of financial markets. This is coming to an end.
The big shift will be when the stock market, and also commodity markets, are all put onto the blockchain and we get everything traded on decentralised exchanges. It will happen, the business incentives are too strong for it not to. And money is the bottom line at the end of the day.
This will level the playing field a lot, as the ocean of illusory liquidity the power structure controls evaporates, and businesses and the oligarchs in charge of them gain more relative clout.
I think we will see a lot of conflict as this all plays out.
I agree that most if not everything financial/stocks will prob end up on the blockchain at some point. The question is, which blockchain or what kinda blockchain? :-)
More and more countries are coming out against decentralize cryptos for the usual reasons i.e. need to control capital flight, laundering, terrorist, tax-evasion, etc. Russia, China are going down the path of national cryptos. India was looking that way for a time, other nations will surely follow in time.
For non-gov created cryptos, only the centralized cryptos that play-ball with authorities and big businesses will get the nod. At the same time, a lot of average Joes don't trust cryptos like BTC specifically because it is not backed by a big business or a government. Despite the sham behind national currencies, the majority of people still trust it and can't see how something other than a gov issued paper could be used instead.
It will take generations for everyone to unlearn what they've known to be true for all of their lives. Many will probably never accept the new paradigm until their dying day. The govs who create their own cryptos know this, and will do everything they can to make sure that their crypto will be the one to succeed. They can do it by banning other cryptos or placing severe restrictions and rules around others. At the end of the day, it's all about monitoring and control of the masses, that's what govs are about, and govs aren't going away anytime soon.