Job posting highlights intelligence community’s growing concerns over greenback’s future global reserve status
A posting for a job opportunity with American intelligence makes it clear that Uncle Sam views cryptocurrency as a growing threat to US dollar hegemony.
The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence is looking for a researcher to help it evaluate the impact of the US dollar losing its status as the world reserve currency on the economy and national security, Bitcoin.com reported.
“There are many advantages for US national security to have the US dollar as the world reserve currency. Any international transaction settled in US dollars gives the US jurisdiction over financial crimes associated with those transactions,” the office stated in its posting. “In addition, the US is able to effectively level sanctions against or designate entities that violate international laws or treaties, or that have the potential to cause financial instability in global markets.”
However, “there are many threats to the US dollar maintaining its status as the world reserve currency. Countries such as China and India have large growing economies that could compete with US. economic growth,” its post continued, adding: “Many cryptocurrency enthusiasts predict that either a global cryptocurrency or a national digital currency could undermine the US dollar . The US. should prepare for scenarios that threaten to undermine the US dollar as the world reserve currency and determine how those scenarios could be overcome, protecting our status in the global economy.
Referring to the above threats, the post notes that “If either of these scenarios or others come to pass, the US would lose both its status in the world and its global authorities.” The posting further asserts: “The US should prepare to identify potential ‘black swan’ events that could revolutionize the financial playing field in ways we do not yet understand – presenting strategic surprise – and understand root causes and driving factors that are particularly sensitive to certain global or technical events.”
Who can apply
The research opportunity is a US Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program through the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Technology.
The Intelligence Community is a coalition of 17 agencies and organizations, including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the National Security Agency (NSA).
A multipolar world?
Analysts have long debated what could replace the greenback as a global reserve asset, pointing to trends such as the gradual de-dollarization of Eurasia, or to China’s deepening economic ties with Europe, Cointelegraph reported.
In both the public and private sectors, new digital currency projects such as Facebook’s Libra have been interpreted differently by global stakeholders.
In 2019, the former People’s Bank of China (PBoC) governor, for example, claimed that “valuing Libra is inseparable from the global de-dollarization trend.”
Within the US, Libra, as well as the PBoC’s own forthcoming digital yuan, have, conversely, been taken as a potential threat to the dollar’s dominance.
