The U.S. has imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia’s banks, wealthy individuals and the country’s central bank in recent weeks—going so far as to lock it out of its foreign reserves.
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As a result of these sanctions, some Russian oligarchs have turned to bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, somewhat boosting the bitcoin price, while Russia itself has ramped up the long process of ending its reliance on U.S. financial companies like Visa and the international interbank payments system SWIFT.
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Now, the co-founder of the Quantum Fund and Soros Fund Management, Jim Rogers, has warned “what is happening with the U.S. dollar now is the end of the U.S. dollar”—but cautioning governments likely won’t allow bitcoin to be used as an alternative.
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Jim Rogers, a legendary investor, warned Washington “changing the rules” will mean the end of the … [+]
“An international currency is supposed to be neutral but in Washington, they are now changing the rules,” Rogers told India’s Economic Times in a wide-ranging interview. “Now if Washington does not like you, they put sanctions on you and you cannot use U.S. dollars.”
Rogers expects countries to start “look for a competitor” to the dollar, naming China, Russia, India, Iran, Brazil as all interested in reducing their dollar reliance.
“The U.S. is the largest debtor nation in the world so, for fundamental reasons and political reasons, people are looking for competing currency,” Rogers said, adding he doesn’t know what that will be yet but hopes he’s “smart enough to buy it when you find it.”
Others have echoed Rogers’ concerns. “[Russia has] almost 50% of their reserves in currencies that are controlled by people who want to do them harm … they have 22% in gold that is the only part of their reserve that other countries can’t control,” renowned investor Bill Miller said last week, adding “from Russia’s point of view, that’s not a great position to be in.” It’s thought Russia has around 16% of its foreign reserves in U.S. dollars.
Despite some in the crypto community suggesting bitcoin could serve as a replacement for the U.S. dollar, Rogers expects the government to eventually “outlaw it.”
“I do not like it but that is the way governments are, and I just suspect that they will either tax it or regulate it or outlaw it or something because they do not want to lose control,” Rogers said, adding to predictions he previously made that the bitcoin price will eventually fall to zero due to government crackdowns.
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The bitcoin price has swung wildly over the last year, twice climbing above $60,000 per bitcoin … [+]
Last year, El Salvador became the world’s first country to begin buying bitcoin, hoping to break its reliance on the U.S. dollar and the traditional financial system—with some lawmakers in other countries considering making a similar move.
In January, Wall Street giant Fidelity predicted other countries and even a central bank could follow El Salvador into bitcoin this year—saying that those who buy bitcoin while the price is low “will be better off competitively than their peers.”
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2022/03/11/a-legendary-investor-just-predicted-the-end-of-the-us-dollar-and-warned-over-the-future-of-bitcoin-amid-extreme-crypto-price-swings/