Written Amid Trump's Assassination Attempt: Cryptocurrency is a Key to the Chaotic Era
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Written Amid Trump's Assassination Attempt: Cryptocurrency is a Key to the Chaotic Era
Once crypto assets achieve a breakthrough in the payment domain, their potential as a key to the chaotic era will be fully unleashed.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Sima Linwei, Editor-in-Chief of DeThings
We are already living in a chaotic era.
The concept of a "chaotic era" originally comes from Liu Cixin's science fiction novel The Three-Body Problem. In the novel, it refers to a catastrophic age for the Trisolaran civilization caused by the unpredictable motion of three suns. In recent years, this term has been extended to describe the turbulence and uncertainty characterizing our contemporary world.
Since the late 1970s, people have experienced a golden age of high economic growth driven by China’s integration into globalization. The inertia of peace and development has made modern society prone to forgetting how frequently “chaotic eras” have actually occurred throughout human history.
Trump’s assassination attempt is precisely a hallmark of such a chaotic era. Looking back at American history, every presidential assassination or attempt has occurred during times of profound instability—events that were not merely personal tragedies but reflections of broader societal crises.
In 1865, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre amid the American Civil War—a massive conflict over slavery and national unity. The war reshaped America’s political landscape and deeply transformed its social fabric. Lincoln’s assassination came shortly after the surrender of Confederate forces; while the war had ended, chaos persisted.
In 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. At that time, the United States was at the height of the Cold War, facing immense domestic and international pressures. The civil rights movement was gaining momentum at home, while abroad, the perceived threat from the Soviet Union loomed large. Kennedy’s assassination shocked the world. By then, postwar America had emerged as the undisputed global leader—and the killing of such a figure marked the end of an idealistic era, revealing the complexities of Cold War geopolitics.
In 1981, Ronald Reagan was shot in Washington, D.C. At the time, the U.S. was suffering from severe stagflation, with persistently high inflation and unemployment. The Reagan administration sought to pull the nation out of economic turmoil through sweeping reforms. Though the assassination attempt failed, the fact that it was carried out by a mentally ill man obsessed with gaining attention underscored the underlying economic distress and social anxiety of the period.
Human Demand for Supranational Currency and Digital Resources in a Chaotic Era
Behind Trump’s assassination attempt lies the global crisis confronting neoliberalism. During the first two decades of the 21st century, waves of globalization swept across the world, bringing unprecedented levels of exchange and cooperation in economics, culture, and technology. However, over time, the globalization process began facing serious challenges. Ideological fragmentation and uneven development gave rise to deglobalization trends, prompting many nations to shift toward inward-looking models. Nationalism and protectionism rose, and the fragility of global supply chains became increasingly evident.
This trend of deglobalization has not only affected global trade and investment but also profoundly impacted the financial system. Inconsistencies in national economic policies have intensified volatility in currency markets, placing traditional monetary systems under unprecedented strain. People are beginning to realize that existing financial structures are ill-equipped to handle today’s complex and turbulent global environment, creating an urgent need for a new, more stable form of money.
Antiques in prosperous times, gold in chaotic ones. Historically, the U.S. dollar has served as the world’s primary reserve currency, gold has been one of the most universally recognized inflation hedges, and oil has functioned as the lifeblood of industry. But in an age defined by irreversible digital transformation and rapid advances in AI, there is a natural demand for risk-mitigation tools that are sovereign-free, enable real-time settlement, and allow seamless global circulation.
It is precisely to meet this demand that the concept of supranational currencies has emerged. Bitcoin and other crypto assets, as decentralized digital currencies, are not controlled by any institution or individual. They represent a mathematical replication of precious metals and possess the defining traits of scarce digital resources. Their emergence not only challenges traditional financial systems but also offers global investors an entirely new alternative.
A Key to the Chaotic Era
The technological features of crypto assets naturally fulfill these needs. First, blockchain technology ensures transparency and immutability. Every transaction is recorded on a distributed ledger and jointly verified and maintained by network nodes, making the process open and resistant to tampering.
Second, the decentralized nature of crypto assets avoids many pitfalls of traditional finance. In conventional systems, central banks and financial institutions wield significant control over money issuance and circulation. This centralized authority often leads to policy errors and abuse of power. In contrast, crypto assets operate via distributed networks, enabling decentralized governance and reducing risks associated with human intervention.
Furthermore, the limited supply and algorithmically governed issuance mechanisms of crypto assets effectively prevent inflation. Take Bitcoin: capped at 21 million coins, its scarcity gives it strong anti-inflationary potential. By comparison, many fiat currencies suffer from severe inflation due to unchecked money printing.
Although crypto assets have already demonstrated tremendous potential in investment and value storage, their application in payments still faces numerous challenges. However, with continuous technological advancements and expanding use cases, breakthroughs in payment functionality are foreseeable.
In recent years, an increasing number of merchants and service providers have begun accepting Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as payment methods—particularly in regions suffering from economic stagnation. These experiments lay the foundation for wider adoption of crypto assets in daily transactions. Cryptocurrencies can enhance payment efficiency and security while significantly lowering the cost and time of cross-border transfers. Traditional cross-border payments typically involve multiple intermediaries, resulting in high fees and long processing times. Crypto-enabled transfers, by contrast, allow peer-to-peer direct transactions, greatly simplifying the process and cutting costs.
Once crypto assets achieve widespread adoption in the payment realm and become common tools in everyday life, their potential as a key to navigating the chaotic era will be fully unlocked. In this turbulent age, Bitcoin and other crypto assets offer a new kind of safe-haven asset, while Web3 introduces a novel mechanism of trust and a new paradigm for social organization.
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