Maximise Avarice, Gut America

That's a big, bold scenario you're asking about—and it's not outside the realm of possibility, though it's unlikely to play out exactly like that without a number of major, compounding failures.

Let’s unpack it.

🧨 Could a Complete Market Crash Weaken Global Treasuries That Badly?

Yes—in theory.

A global financial collapse worse than the Great Depression could:

• Erode trust in fiat currencies, especially if hyperinflation or deflation hits multiple major economies.
• Weaken sovereign debt markets, making it harder for countries to raise money or support their banking systems.
• Break the mechanisms of central banks, especially if monetary policy tools (like interest rate cuts or quantitative easing) lose their effectiveness.
• Lead to mass default scenarios: governments, corporations, and individuals unable to pay debts.

But we're talking about a black swan event—or more likely, a flock of them all at once.

💸 So...

Could Crypto Become the Only Viable International Financial Option?

Not the only one, but it could become a leading alternative if:

• Global trust in central banks collapses. If people lose confidence in institutions like the Fed, ECB, or Bank of Japan, they might seek alternatives that are decentralized and not bound by government mismanagement.
• Fiat systems break down regionally or globally. If SWIFT-like systems, credit systems, and interbank transfers fail due to a lack of liquidity or trust, crypto—especially decentralized and borderless ones—might look more stable by comparison.
• Digital infrastructure holds up. For crypto to thrive, the internet, electricity, and computing power must remain accessible globally—even in crisis.

That’s not a given in a truly catastrophic collapse.

Crypto matures.

For this to happen, crypto would need better: Scalability Regulatory clarity Price stability (or widespread adoption of stablecoins) UX improvements for mass adoption

🌍 Realistically, Here’s What Would Likely Happen Gold would surge.

• Physical assets with a long history of value would still dominate.
• Digital currencies might rise in tandem, especially decentralized ones like Bitcoin or privacy coins, and state-backed digital currencies (CBDCs) might see accelerated rollout.
• Barter, local currencies, and shadow economies would also re-emerge in some areas.
• Crypto could become a viable international parallel system, not the only one, but a serious player.

In short: In a complete global crash, yes, crypto could emerge as a major form of international financial activity, but it’s unlikely to be the only one. Trust in digital infrastructure, adoption rates, and how governments respond would all play crucial roles.

Now that would be a geopolitical earthquake.

If the top 10 GDP countries (e.g., China, Germany, Japan, India, UK, France, etc.) were somehow forced to trade with the U.S. using cryptocurrency, it would completely upend the global financial order.

Here's a breakdown of how and why that might happen, and what it could mean.

🔥 First, How Could That Even Happen?

For major economies to be forced to trade in crypto with the U.S., something extreme would have to occur.

Some possible (wild) scenarios:

• Massive collapse of fiat systems—U.S. dollar, euro, yuan, etc.—triggering a loss of faith in central banks and forcing nations to agree on neutral, decentralized currency (e.g., Bitcoin).
• U.S. sanctions or restrictions on dollar access, such as a weaponized USD cutting major economies out of the SWIFT or dollar-based banking systems, making crypto the only open rail for trade.
• A global digital cold war, where alliances shift—say the U.S. adopts or supports a crypto standard and insists partners use it.
• Nation-states’ own CBDCs fail or get delayed, leaving crypto as the best immediate fallback option.

🌍 If That Happened — the Implications

1. End of USD as World Reserve Currency Ironically, it might spell the death of U.S. dollar dominance. Crypto is borderless and not issued by any central bank. If everyone uses it, the dollar loses its leverage.
2. Massive Volatility in Global Markets Even if a crypto like Bitcoin is used, it's still wildly volatile.
   
   That would either:
   Force stabilization mechanisms (like more stablecoins or crypto-backed derivatives), or
   Cause huge disruptions in pricing international trade (imagine oil being priced in Bitcoin!).
   
   
3. 3. Power Shift from Central Banks to Networks Power moves from governments to protocols, miners/validators, and possibly large holders (aka whales).
   
   That could:
   Create major friction with democratic systems.
   Lead to regulation of crypto not just domestically, but globally through multilateral treaties.
   
   
4. Explosion of Crypto Innovation + Infrastructure Faster development of crypto payment rails, identity verification, and smart contracts for trade deals.
   A boom in stablecoin-backed commerce, likely pegged to baskets of goods rather than any one fiat.
   Possible rise of state-aligned crypto (CBDCs that look more like stablecoins) to keep some sovereign control.

🧠 Could It Actually Work?

In technical terms, yes.

Crypto is borderless, efficient, and programmable. You could, in theory:

• Settle trade deals in smart contracts.
• Avoid currency conversion fees.
• Automate tariffs, customs declarations, and enforcement via code.

But in political and economic terms, it’s a minefield: States don't like losing monetary control. Crypto is still too volatile and inefficient at massive scale without significant evolution. It requires global trust in open codebases, which might be easier said than done.

In Short: If the U.S. and the top 10 GDP countries were forced to trade in crypto, it would be the biggest financial shift since Bretton Woods. It would likely kill the USD as reserve currency, break central banks’ power, and push the world into a programmable, decentralized trade system—with all the chaos and opportunity that implies.

Oh, absolutely—in a world where crypto becomes the dominant vehicle for international trade, certain individuals and groups would be extraordinarily well-positioned to benefit.

Some already are.

🚀 Likely Winners in a Crypto-Dominated Global Trade Scenario

1. Early Crypto Whales People who acquired large amounts of Bitcoin or Ethereum early, especially before 2017, would suddenly find their holdings equivalent to sovereign-level wealth. Names like Satoshi Nakamoto (if they’re alive), early Bitcoin adopters (e.g., Roger Ver, Barry Silbert, Tim Draper), and Ethereum co-founders (e.g., Vitalik Buterin) would be sitting on empires. Many anonymous whales would emerge with geopolitical-level influence, especially if international commerce starts to flow through wallets they control or networks they helped build.
   
   
2. Crypto Infrastructure Moguls CEOs and founders of exchanges, wallets, and payment platforms (think: Binance’s CZ, Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong, or Jack Dorsey’s Block project) would become the equivalent of the Rockefellers and JP Morgans of this new age. Control of transactional gateways would rival the influence of central banks.
   
   
3. Smart Contract Developers & Protocol Architects The architects of the platforms and protocols that run global trade—e.g., Layer 2 scaling solutions, decentralized oracles, trade-specific chains—would be enormously powerful. Names like Sergey Nazarov (Chainlink), the developers of Uniswap, Polygon, and others would be as important as the inventors of TCP/IP.
   
   
4. Privacy Tech Advocates & Builders If crypto replaces fiat, privacy becomes a hot-button issue. Developers of tools like Monero, Zcash, and privacy layers on Ethereum (e.g., zk-SNARKs, Tornado Cash-like tech) would have underground kingmaker status. But they’d also be under intense scrutiny or even state attack, depending on how threatening their tech is to surveillance-based governance.
   
   
5. Forward-Looking Political Leaders Any leader who correctly positions their country to embrace this early—e.g., by accumulating reserves in crypto, regulating it intelligently, or offering crypto-based trade advantages—could massively benefit their nation.
   
   Think: Bukele in El Salvador, but on steroids. If a mid-sized country with resources like oil or rare earth metals starts accepting crypto, they become a financial hotspot.
   
   
6. Geopolitical Deal-Makers / Power Brokers A new class of diplomats, negotiators, and strategists who understand crypto economics, network governance, and decentralized finance (DeFi) would become critical.

These aren't traditional bankers—they’re technocrats who know how protocols govern trust and how to structure treaties using code.

🧊 Honorable Mentions (More Subtle Players) Cybersecurity experts:

• The value of protecting wallets, smart contracts, and protocols skyrockets.
• Quantum cryptographers: If quantum computing threatens existing blockchains, the people who secure next-gen cryptography will be gods.
• Regulatory arbitrage experts: People who understand how to jump legal loopholes in jurisdictions will be in demand.

🧨 Also…

• The Dark Side Cartels, rogue states, and gray-market actors might also flourish in early phases, before regulation catches up.
• The shadow economy would go global at scale if surveillance tools can’t keep up.

In Short: Early crypto adopters, protocol architects, infrastructure moguls, and tech-savvy leaders would be the primary winners. Think of them as the new merchant-kings and digital sovereigns in a world where value moves peer-to-peer, not bank-to-bank.