China Talks Up DeDollarization Again, Also Bye-Bye Mastercard and Visa

Global Times: As US wields sticks, China, Russia to counter dollar hegemony

While ending the greenback's dominance remains an almost impossible mission at the moment, there are ways for countries to find ways to at least avert certain sanctions and slowly chip away at the dollar's dominance, analysts added, noting that the trend of de-dollarization in certain areas is on the rise.

Ahead of his visit, Lavrov blasted Washington's "instinct" of using sanctions at every turn, which he said has become deeply rooted and a usual trick in its international dealings, warning such sanctions against China and Russia are "unwise".

To counter US sanctions, Lavrov said, China and Russia must enhance their technological independence and push for the use of their own currencies to replace the dollar as global clearing units in order to minimize the risk of ill-willed US sanctions, according to the China Media Group on Monday.

...After a multi-year campaign, China and Russia's de-dollarization efforts saw a breakthrough, as the dollar's share in bilateral trade dropped from 90 percent in 2015 to 46 percent in the first quarter of 2020, falling below the 50-percent mark for the first time, according to the Financial Times.

The U.S. made the same mistake as China did with rare earths a decade ago. Market dominance is a power you keep in reserve and never speak of. As soon as you hint that you will use it, let alone use it, you begin the inevitable destruction of your power because other parties realize it is no longer reliable. Paranoid people see a problem where one only potentially exists (only the paranoid survive...), but most people think a trap doesn't exist as long as it hasn't sprung on them. China will lose its rate earth advantage and the U.S. will lose its currency advantage well before it would have proven useful in a conflict.

The same thing is happening in the private economy. Payment processors, banks and credit card companies in the United States have "banned" customers for their political views. More and more people wake up with each news item because the idea is spreading. Once people have it in their head, they start seeing through the news. The threat might seem like a joke today, but companies such as Mastercard are going to find their core business coming under relentless attack from an alliance of fintech (blockchain) and politically motivated actors. The rapid scalability of blockchain technology means a competitor could emerge from "nowhere" and become a grave competitive threat almost overnight.

Nearly all corporate giants are abusing their position as the U.S. abuses its control over the reserve currency and global payment system. Corporations are turning off tens of millions, if not billions of, customers with their politics. They are actively marketing for the competition. Millions of customers are dreaming of an alternative. Eventually, the market will supply it.