Happy Days Ahead For Bitcoin In Germany

BTC Wires: Germany, with foreign minister Heiko Maas encouraging Europe to break away from the US-led global payment system, is on its way to shine as a beacon for the Bitcoin industry, or so experts believe. If this country, having the largest economy in Europe, does indeed manage to pull off such a move, the happy times for Bitcoin could make an appearance sooner than later.

The last few months have seen countries like Iran and Turkey staggering under the burden of US sanctions, which, for all practical purposes, meant an exclusion from the global financial network. In response to such a situation, Maas has written in his op-ed piece published in the German paper Handelsblatt that the times demand a reassertion of European economic autonomy by establishing channels of payment that function regardless of American policies. He also suggested the establishment of a European Monetary Fund and also an independent Swift System.

The crippling impact of US decisions had led Iran to switch to digital assets to trade with friendly nations, indicating a softening of stance since it had earlier attempted to ban crypto trading altogether. Iran’s Parliamentary Commission of Economic Affairs chief Reza Pourebrahmi stated that Russia is willing to work with Iran using decentralized financial network like cryptocurrencies so as to evade the reach of a global banking system orchestrated by America. To substitute the dominant SWIFT system and the dollar’s pre-eminence, the use of cryptocurrencies appears to be the only way out.

Presently, the US control forces European Banks to play by American rules instead of making their own profit-driven choices. For example, France’s largest energy company, Total, had to withdraw from a collaboration with an Iranian gas project since the US held the reins of the banking system. Even Belgium, the home of the SWIFT system, has to toe the line etched by the US. Maas’s announcement, if implemented, can give a new life to these various economies by loosening the deathly grip of USA on the payment systems.

In fact, countries such as Turkey, Venezuela and Iran where devaluation of national currencies, along with rigid capital controls, have led them to embrace cryptocurrencies as an alternative to cash payment, are seeing a great enthusiasm for using crypto. If US is really dislodged from its dominant position, cryptocurrencies are likely to become the medium of choice for many investors, governments, traders and organizations.