Crypto and the Geopolitics of Dollar Dominance

Cryptocurrencies have moved from the fringes of finance to the forefront of geopolitical discourse. As nations grapple with shifts in global power and monetary technology, digital currencies are increasingly seen as both a threat and an opportunity. In particular, the rise of crypto poses a potential challenge to U.S. dollar dominance – a pillar of the current international financial order. This think piece explores three interrelated dynamics: (1) the emergence of crypto as a neutral alternative to traditional fiat currencies in global trade, (2) the use of cryptocurrencies and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) by countries like Russia, China, and Iran to evade sanctions and assert financial autonomy, and (3) broader trends of de-dollarization, examining how crypto factors into strategies to reduce dependence on the U.S.-led system. The analysis maintains a neutral (if slightly skeptical) tone, acknowledging crypto’s promise of monetary sovereignty while noting the enduring strengths of the dollar-based order.

Crypto as a Neutral Alternative in Global Trade and Finance

One of cryptocurrency’s core appeals is its neutrality. Bitcoin and other decentralized digital assets are not issued by any central bank, nor are they under the direct control of any single government. In theory, this makes them an attractive medium of exchange or store of value for parties who may distrust major reserve currencies or the political influence behind them. A global digital currency that “bypasses the dollar-dominated global financial system” could allow trade to continue unfettered by any one nation’s monetary policy or sanctions reuters.com. This vision has fueled interest in using crypto for cross-border payments and trade settlement, positioning it as a twenty-first century equivalent of gold or a “digital cash” for the internet age.

Indeed, we have already seen small but symbolic moves toward crypto-based commerce. In 2022, Iran announced it had placed its first official import order – worth about $10 million – using cryptocurrency reuters.com. Iranian officials framed this first crypto-denominated trade as a step toward “bypass[ing] the dollar-dominated” system and trading with other countries under U.S. sanctions (such as Russia) via digital assets reuters.com. By using crypto instead of dollars or euros, the transaction avoided the traditional banking networks where the U.S. wields power. Similarly, other countries afflicted by sanctions or currency instability have experimented with Bitcoin as an alternative to fiat. For example, the Central African Republic and El Salvador – both heavily reliant on stronger foreign currencies – made Bitcoin legal tender in recent years, aiming to achieve a degree of monetary independence outside the U.S. dollar’s shadow reuters.com. These bold experiments reflect the allure of a neutral, supranational currency that isn’t subject to another government’s whims.

Beyond nation-states, private actors have also embraced crypto as a borderless financial tool. Global companies and individuals use stablecoins (cryptocurrencies pegged to assets like the U.S. dollar or gold) to move funds quickly across jurisdictions without intermediary banks. In some emerging markets with volatile local currencies, dollar-pegged stablecoins now function as a de facto dollar substitute – a digital parallel currency used for trade and savings, but outside the control of the U.S. Federal Reserve. At the same time, central banks are taking note. Many are developing CBDCs that could one day interlink, allowing value to flow directly between countries without a reserve currency as an intermediary. As a Morgan Stanley analysis observed, “as the search by nation states for alternatives to the dollar continues, emerging digital currencies and stablecoins are fast developing into viable alternatives to traditional cash” – a shift driven partly by geopolitical competition and dissatisfaction with U.S. policy morganstanley.com. Major projects like the Bank for International Settlements’ mBridge pilot (connecting the digital currencies of China, Hong Kong, Thailand, UAE, and others) hint at a future where cross-border payments have a unified digital standard, reducing reliance on middlemen like SWIFT or on dominant currencies like the dollar morganstanley.com. In short, the technology is laying the groundwork for a financial network in which no single state’s currency is king – a neutral crypto-based rails system that could fundamentally alter global trade finance.

That said, this vision remains nascent and faces significant hurdles. For one, volatility is an ever-present concern. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin can swing wildly in price, which “mak[es] them impractical for large-scale payments” in trade reuters.com. A merchant can’t be sure that the Bitcoin they receive today will hold the same value next week, undermining its usefulness as a unit of account for contracts. Stablecoins attempt to solve this by tethering value to stable assets (often the U.S. dollar itself), but this introduces counterparty risk (relying on the issuer’s reserves) and, ironically, still links the system back to the dollar for stability markets.businessinsider.com. Moreover, global acceptance is limited. While crypto transactions bypass certain chokepoints, relatively few oil producers or large manufacturers are ready to invoice and settle deals entirely in Bitcoin or Ethereum. Trust is another issue: the neutral, leaderless nature of public blockchains is a double-edged sword, as there’s no central authority to guarantee payment finality or reverse fraudulent transactions. These constraints explain why, despite much hype, crypto remains a fringe player in international trade. Still, its mere existence as an independent alternative is reshaping debates about the future of money.

Sanctions Evasion and Financial Autonomy: Crypto’s Role for Russia, China, and Iran

Perhaps nowhere is the strategic use of cryptocurrency more evident than among nations targeted by U.S.-led financial sanctions. Countries like Russia, China, and Iran – each to varying degrees of isolation from the Western financial system – have turned to digital currencies (both decentralized crypto and state-issued tokens) as tools to achieve greater financial autonomy. Their experiments shed light on whether crypto can genuinely undermine the dollar’s hegemony or at least offer a safety valve for sanctioned economies.

Russia’s pivot to crypto is particularly striking. Before 2022, Moscow’s stance toward cryptocurrency was largely skeptical – the Central Bank of Russia even proposed banning Bitcoin trading and mining, citing risks. But after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered sweeping Western sanctions (freezing hundreds of billions in reserves and cutting off Russian banks from SWIFT), the Kremlin’s calculus shifted dramatically. By July 2024, Russia’s State Duma had passed a law “allowing the use of cryptocurrencies in international settlements,” effectively legalizing crypto for foreign trade transactions rand.org. In practice, this move tacitly acknowledged that businesses could use Bitcoin, stablecoins, or other digital assets to pay for imports and receive export earnings, outside the traditional banking system. President Vladimir Putin – once cool toward crypto – became an unlikely advocate. At a high-profile economic forum in late 2024, Putin proclaimed that “no one can prohibit the use of Bitcoin” rand.org, framing crypto as a sovereign financial tool beyond any foreign control. Around the same time, Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, announced plans to offer crypto custody services for its clients – a sign that even state-aligned institutions see a role for digital assets in bypassing restrictions rand.org. The embrace of crypto extends to mining as well: Putin signed a law legalizing industrial crypto mining, aiming to tap Russia’s abundant energy to earn Bitcoin that can be used in commerce without touching the dollar system rand.org.

Moscow’s new enthusiasm for crypto is not happening in a vacuum; it is directly motivated by sanctions pressure. A RAND Corporation analysis notes that by integrating cryptocurrencies into its financial toolkit, Russia is explicitly trying to “sustain international trade and circumvent sanctions” rand.org. For example, when conventional payment pathways were blocked, Russian entities reportedly turned to hundreds of no-KYC crypto exchanges – largely operating under the radar – to anonymously convert rubles (from sanctioned banks) into crypto and vice versa rand.org. Blockchain analytics have revealed a proliferation of ruble-to-Tether trading and other crypto channels as Russian businesses seek routes around U.S. and EU oversight rand.org. There are also indications that Russia and its allies are devising new digital payment instruments explicitly aimed at displacing the dollar. In early 2023, Russian and Iranian officials discussed launching a jointly backed gold-backed stablecoin – nicknamed the “Token of the Persian Gulf” – to facilitate trade in the region. The idea was for this cryptocurrency, anchored by gold, to “replace the US dollar for payments in international trade” between Russia, Iran, and potentially other partnersmarkets.businessinsider.com. Such a token, if realized, could be used in a special economic zone (Astrakhan, in southern Russia) that handles Iranian shipments, effectively creating a digital currency corridor immune to Western sanctions markets.businessinsider.com. A Russian lawmaker noted the project would only move forward once Russia fully regulates its digital asset market – something the central bank grudgingly accepted as necessary “to soften the impact of financial sanctions” markets.businessinsider.com. In short, Russia is actively experimenting with crypto and digital currencies as a financial lifeline, a way to trade with the world while U.S. sanctions bite.

Iran, long isolated by U.S. sanctions, provides another telling case of crypto’s role in sanctions evasion and economic resilience. Cut off from the dollar-based financial system since the 1980s (with periodic intensifications of sanctions, including a near-total embargo on its banking and oil sectors), Iran has every incentive to find alternative payment methods. Tehran has openly embraced cryptocurrency in multiple ways. In August 2022, Iran’s Trade Ministry revealed it completed its first official import paid in cryptocurrency, an order valued at $10 million reuters.com. While the government did not disclose which cryptocurrency was used, the intent was crystal clear: to conduct foreign purchases without touching the U.S. dollar or traditional letters of credit, thereby “circumvent[ing] U.S. sanctions” and the global banking networks that enforce them reuters.com. An Iranian official predicted that by the end of that year, “cryptocurrencies and smart contracts will be widely used in foreign trade with target countries” – signalling plans for routine use of digital currencies in commerce with partners like Russia, China, or others willing to accept them reuters.com. Iran’s interest in crypto goes beyond making payments; it has also become a prolific miner of Bitcoin. Studies estimated that as of 2021, roughly 4.5% of all Bitcoin mining took place in Iran, leveraging the country’s subsidized (and often surplus) electricity reuters.com. This mining activity allows Iran to effectively convert its energy (oil and natural gas) into Bitcoin – a reserve asset that can be used to buy imports or held for value, completely outside the traditional financial system. By one account, Iran’s Bitcoin mining could be earning it hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, offsetting some of the pain of sanctions by providing a parallel stream of hard currency (albeit digital) reuters.com. U.S. officials have certainly taken notice: the Treasury Department has repeatedly sanctioned Iranian individuals and companies involved in crypto-based sanction evasion. In a recent case (September 2025), the U.S. sanctioned a network of Iranian and other nationals who orchestrated over $100 million in crypto transactions to help Tehran sell oil in defiance of international restrictions home.treasury.govhome.treasury.gov. These facilitators allegedly used overseas front companies and digital wallets to launder oil proceeds via crypto, thereby “sidestepp[ing] restrictions while keeping financial flows active” for Iran’s military programs home.treasury.govhome.treasury.gov. The cat-and-mouse dynamic illustrates a broader point: Iran has woven cryptocurrency into its strategy to achieve financial autonomy, forcing the U.S. to extend its sanctions enforcement to the blockchain realm.

China’s approach to digital currencies and financial autonomy is more preventive and strategic, rather than a reaction to being sanctioned (since China is not, as of now, under broad financial sanctions by the West). Beijing views the U.S. dollar-based system – and especially the dollar’s leverage in enforcing sanctions – as a vulnerability for China’s rise. In recent years, Chinese officials have frequently decried the “weaponization” of the dollar and have taken steps to inoculate China from such risks. A key element of this strategy is the development of the digital yuan (eCNY), China’s CBDC. The digital yuan is not a cryptocurrency per se (it’s centrally issued and controlled by the People’s Bank of China), but it leverages similar technologies and holds geopolitical significance. By internationalizing the yuan through digital means, China aims to “chip away at the hegemony of the dollar” carnegieendowment.org, carnegieendowment.org. The digital yuan could “circumvent the U.S. dollar in important global financial transactions,” Carnegie Endowment analysts noted as early as 2021 carnegieendowment.org. The rationale is that if Chinese firms and trading partners can transact in yuan via a convenient digital wallet – entirely outside of SWIFT and U.S. banking oversight – then Washington’s ability to freeze payments or track flows is diminished. We see glimmers of this in practice: China has begun pushing for the yuan to replace the dollar in oil deals with certain partners, a trend sometimes dubbed the rise of the “petroyuan” markets.businessinsider.com. Since 2022, China has dramatically increased its purchases of oil and gas from sanctioned Russia, often pricing those energy trades in yuan. It also launched yuan-based crude oil futures in Shanghai, giving global traders a non-dollar benchmark. Alongside this, Beijing has built its own interbank messaging system (CIPS) as a potential alternative to SWIFT, and it has established bilateral currency swap lines with dozens of countries to facilitate non-dollar trade globalconnectivities.com. All these measures aim at financial self-reliance: to ensure that in a scenario where China itself might face U.S. financial pressure (for instance, in a geopolitical crisis over Taiwan), it could continue trading and transacting with minimal disruption. Chinese scholars frame it as hedging against sanctions. “Central to the yuan’s future is whether China will attempt to de-dollarize the global economy or merely hedge against potential U.S. sanctions,” writes one analyst, noting that for now China is focused on building the infrastructure — like cross-border digital payment systems — to “counteract the US dollar’s sanctioning power” without completely unpegging from the dollar gjia.georgetown.edu. Notably, China’s strategy differs from Russia’s freewheeling crypto embrace; Beijing has banned domestic cryptocurrency trading and mining, asserting strict control to protect its monetary sovereignty. Instead, China champions state-driven digital alternatives (the eCNY, CIPS, and regional digital currency pilots) that could one day reduce its dependence on the U.S. dollar, albeit under Beijing’s centralized oversight.

In summary, whether out of necessity (Russia and Iran) or strategic foresight (China), major U.S. rivals are leveraging digital currencies to carve out more room for maneuver in finance. Cryptocurrencies and CBDCs offer a parallel network where U.S. sanctions have less bite and where transactions can occur beyond the dollar. This does not mean such efforts are entirely successful or without risk. The U.S. still polices crypto channels aggressively – for example, shutting down illicit exchanges and sanctioning crypto wallets tied to illegal finance home.treasury.gov,home.treasury.gov – and the liquidity of crypto markets is thin compared to the multi-trillion-dollar FX markets. But the trend is clear: digital currencies have become part of the geopolitical toolkit. They provide sanctioned or vulnerable states with a partial outlet – a way to enhance financial sovereignty and keep economic wheels turning, even as the dollar-centric system is used against them.

De-Dollarization and the Fragility of Dollar Hegemony

The rise of crypto is unfolding alongside a broader push by many countries to reduce their reliance on the U.S. dollar. This movement, often termed “de-dollarization,” has gained momentum in the aftermath of recent geopolitical shocks. At its heart lies a question: Has the U.S., by leveraging the dollar’s dominance for strategic ends (sanctions, trade wars, etc.), undermined the long-term stability of the dollar-based order? And could alternatives – including cryptocurrencies – play a meaningful role in a less USD-centric future?

There is growing evidence of dollar fatigue internationally. The dollar still reigns supreme in global finance – about 90% of foreign exchange transactions involve the U.S. dollar, and it comprised ~58% of official foreign reserves as of 2022 reuters.com globalconnectivities.com. But that reserve share is the lowest in 20 years, down from roughly 70% two decades ago reuters.com. America’s chief adversaries are not the only ones seeking options. U.S. allies and neutral countries, too, have watched Washington’s financial power with a mix of admiration and unease. The watershed moment was in February 2022: the U.S. and EU froze $300 billion of Russia’s central bank assets virtually overnight, an unprecedented sanction globalconnectivities.com. “When the U.S. and its allies froze $300 billion of Russia’s reserves… policymakers from Riyadh to New Delhi noticed,” one analysis noted pointedly globalconnectivities.com. If the dollar assets of a G20 economy (Russia) could be rendered inaccessible by fiat, it raised sobering questions in capitals around the world: Could we be next? Officials in many emerging markets began quietly recalibrating. The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) found that numerous central banks have been “quietly diversifying reserves as insurance against political exposure,” seeking to hold a bit less of their savings in dollars just in case globalconnectivities.com. This doesn’t mean a mass dump of U.S. Treasuries, but the direction is toward safety in numbers – gold, euros, yuan, or even a small allocation to Bitcoin – anything that can’t be unilaterally frozen by a foreign power.

De-dollarization efforts are most pronounced among blocs like the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and across the Global South. At the BRICS 2023 summit, discussion of reducing dollar dependence took center stage. Russia’s President Putin (participating remotely due to an international arrest warrant) declared that “the objective, irreversible process of de-dollarisation of our economic ties is gaining momentum”reuters.com. BRICS nations agreed to increase trade in local currencies and even floated the provocative idea of a common BRICS currency for trade, though this remains a distant aspiration reuters.com, reuters.com. In practice, what’s happening is a patchwork of smaller arrangements: India and Russia, for instance, have settled oil trades in rupees; Gulf countries like the UAE are signing currency swap deals with Asian partners; and as noted, China is pushing for more commodity contracts priced in yuan globalconnectivities.com markets.businessinsider.com. Importantly, these steps are not purely driven by politics – economics plays a role too. The dollar’s surge in 2022 (fueled by Fed rate hikes) made dollar-denominated imports and debts more expensive for everyone else, providing another incentive to diversify markets.businessinsider.com. In short, many countries see benefit in a more multipolar currency regime for a more multipolar world.

Where do cryptocurrencies fit into this emerging picture? Crypto is not (yet) a primary driver of de-dollarization – that mantle belongs to national policies (like promoting use of yuan or rupee) and market forces. However, crypto is an enabler and a complementary tool in the de-dollarization toolkit. It offers an avenue to conduct transactions and store value outside the dollar system entirely. For countries distrustful of U.S. influence, that’s an attractive proposition. As discussed, Russia and Iran are actively using crypto to skirt dollar systems in trade. Beyond that, crypto provides a backstop: an uncensorable asset like Bitcoin can serve as a hedge against worst-case scenarios (e.g. a country’s dollar reserves being frozen). Even when countries don’t publicly endorse crypto, the option exists for their citizens or institutions to shift into digital assets during crises. We saw this in places like Turkey and Argentina, where rapid currency devaluation led many to buy Bitcoin or Tether as an alternative to holding U.S. dollars cash – a form of grassroots de-dollarization via crypto. On a state level, there have been talks (though not yet materialized) of some central banks holding cryptocurrency as part of their reserves. Proponents liken Bitcoin to “digital gold” that could complement gold bullion in fortifying a nation’s reserve portfolio against dollar risk.

Moreover, the development of sovereign digital currencies (CBDCs) can indirectly chip away at dollar dominance by streamlining non-dollar trade. If multiple countries interconnect their CBDCs, they could trade directly with each other in their own units, with conversion happening via multilateral digital ledgers rather than through dollar settlements. As Morgan Stanley’s investment team noted, widespread adoption of CBDCs “holds the potential to establish a unified standard for cross-border payments, which could diminish reliance on traditional intermediaries like SWIFT and [reduce] the use of dominant currencies such as the dollar” morganstanley.com. For example, the mBridge project demonstrated that a Thai importer could pay a Chinese exporter with digital baht converted to digital yuan in real-time – no U.S. bank, no dollar invoicing morganstanley.com. Over time, such platforms might handle a growing share of regional trade, especially among countries keen to avoid the dollar sphere. In this way, crypto and CBDC technology act as plumbing for a future de-dollarized (or less-dollarized) world economy.

However, skepticism is warranted about how fast or far de-dollarization can go. For all the headlines proclaiming the dollar’s demise, the data still show resilience in dollar usage globalconnectivities.com,globalconnectivities.com. The euro, yen, and yuan each have structural shortcomings that prevent them from seriously rivaling the dollar as a global reserve (Europe lacks fiscal unity, Japan’s economy has stagnated, China maintains capital controls) globalconnectivities.com. Cryptocurrencies, for their part, face issues of scale and trust. No crypto asset is anywhere close to the market depth or stability required to replace the dollar in central bank vaults or international trade contracts. Even stablecoins, which mostly piggyback on the dollar’s value, ultimately rely on the very fiat reserves they claim to sidestep. It’s telling that even within the BRICS’ own New Development Bank – created as an alternative to Western-led lenders – an insider admitted “the dollar is hard-coded into the DNA of the institution”, illustrating the inertia of dollar usage globalconnectivities.com. Additionally, U.S. financial clout is deeply entrenched: in times of global crisis, investors still flock to U.S. Treasury bonds and the liquidity of the dollar market, not to gold or Bitcoin. That inertia and network effect won’t disappear overnight.

What is fragile, then, is not the dollar’s immediate status, but the long-term trust underpinning it. The U.S. enjoys what French officials once called an “exorbitant privilege” – the ability to print the world’s reserve currency and run deficits without losing credibility. But if the U.S. is seen as overly willing to “weaponize” that privilege (by freezing assets, disconnecting banks, sanctioning at will), other nations will work ever harder to insure themselves against that scenario globalconnectivities.com, globalconnectivities.com. As one observer put it, by turning the dollar into an instrument of coercion, “is Washington accelerating its own undoing?” globalconnectivities.com Each new sanctions episode, while effective in the short term, “plants seeds of long-term doubt about American neutrality” in the global financial system globalconnectivities.com. It is in these small cracks of confidence that crypto finds a niche. Even if Bitcoin won’t replace the greenback, the mere possibility of a non-sovereign financial network gaining traction can subtly shift the balance of power. The likely outcome is not a sudden collapse of dollar dominance, but rather a gradual erosion – a diversification of currencies and systems over years and decades globalconnectivities.com. In that gradual drift, cryptocurrencies and digital currencies could play a supporting role, enabling countries and communities to incrementally reduce their dependence on U.S. financial infrastructure.

Conclusion: A New Monetary Landscape – Cautious Optimism and Sober Realities

Cryptocurrency’s emergence on the geopolitical stage signifies that the global monetary order is entering a period of flux. The U.S. dollar-centric system, while still robust, is facing challenges from multiple fronts – some political, some technological. Monetary sovereignty has become a watchword for many nations, encapsulating the desire to control one’s financial destiny in a world where the dominant reserve currency can be used as a pressure point. In this context, crypto offers a tantalizing promise: an apolitical form of money, a network that no single nation can monopolize, and a potential equalizer in international finance. It bolsters the bargaining power of countries like Russia, Iran, and China by giving them alternative channels for value transfer and reserve diversification. It also appeals to a broader set of emerging economies who chafe at the vulnerabilities of the dollar-centric regime.

Yet, a neutral and decentralized currency system remains more of an ideal than a fully realized reality. The dollar’s incumbency – its widespread acceptance, deep markets, and the relative predictability of U.S. stewardship – grants it a resilience that upstart alternatives (whether crypto or yuan) have yet to match. The strategic use of crypto by certain states is as much a signal as a solution: it signals discontent with the status quo and highlights the fragility of an order that depends on others’ acquiescence, but it hasn’t overturned that order. The U.S. dollar-led system will not be unseated overnight; even officials in Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran recognize the risks and limits of over-relying on volatile or nascent alternatives globalconnectivities.com,globalconnectivities.com. Crypto’s geopolitical significance, then, lies in how it incrementally reshapes the calculus. It introduces new options and reduces the costs of opting out of the dollar system at the margins – and in international affairs, options mean leverage.

For the United States and its allies, the rise of these digital alternatives serves as a caution. Preserving dollar dominance will require maintaining trust and openness in the global financial system. Heavy-handed financial warfare (however justified in the short term) could drive more countries toward building those “parallel systems” that bypass the dollar globalconnectivities.com. In a way, crypto is a by-product of the world’s search for a Plan B, a backstop if the Plan A (the U.S.-led order) becomes too constraining. A wise strategic move for the West would be to address legitimate concerns – for instance, by ensuring the dollar system cannot be abused or by co-opting some of the efficiency innovations of crypto into more neutral payment infrastructures.

In conclusion, we stand at an inflection point where technology meets geopolitics. Cryptocurrencies and CBDCs are injecting new dynamics into the great game of international finance. They are challenging the dollar’s dominance, not by outright supplanting it, but by gradually chipping away at the barriers to entry in the currency competition. The result may be a more fragmented yet resilient monetary order – one where no single currency is absolute, and where power is a bit more diffuse. For champions of crypto, this is validation of the idea that money can be separated from state; for skeptics, it’s a reminder that states will not easily relinquish control over finance. Most likely, the future will see a coexistence: the dollar remaining preeminent but less almighty, and crypto playing a significant (if supporting) role in the global financial orchestra. In this unfolding story, cautious optimism is warranted – the seeds of change are evident – but so is a clear-eyed acknowledgment of crypto’s current limitations and the enduring weight of the status quo. The dollar’s throne is not empty yet, but the room is getting more crowded.

Sources: Recent analyses and reports have informed this piece, including insights from Morgan Stanley on digital currencies eroding dollar reliancemorganstanley.commorganstanley.com, Reuters and RAND Corporation reporting on Russia’s crypto pivotsrand.orgrand.org, U.S. Treasury findings on Iranian oil-for-crypto networkshome.treasury.govhome.treasury.gov, and perspectives on de-dollarization from the BRICS sphere and beyondreuters.comglobalconnectivities.com. These illustrate the intersection of cryptocurrency developments with the geopolitical landscape in 2024–2025, highlighting both notable developments and the measured realism needed in assessing them.

Disclaimer:
This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any financial instruments, securities, or digital assets. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Sterling Asset Group or its affiliates. Cryptocurrency and digital asset investments involve significant risk, including volatility and potential loss of capital. Readers should conduct their own due diligence and consult with their financial, legal, or tax advisors before making investment decisions.