US Worried Crypto Could Undermine Dollar as World Reserve Currency, Hiring Researchers to Prepare Response

The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence has admitted that cryptocurrency could undermine the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency. The head of the U.S. Intelligence Community is seeking researchers to detail the impact of that status loss on the U.S., its economy, and national security.

Also read: Fed Chair Powell Reveals US Response to China’s Digital Yuan, Libra, Public Payments Ledger

Crypto Could Undermine USD as the World’s Reserve Currency

The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence has posted a research opportunity entitled “Evaluating the Impact of U.S. Dollar Losing Its Status as World Reserve Currency.”

“There are many advantages for U.S. national security to have the U.S. dollar as the world reserve currency. Any international transaction settled in US dollars gives the U.S. jurisdiction over financial crimes associated with those transactions,” the office stated in its posting. “In addition, the U.S. 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 U.S. dollar maintaining its status as the world reserve currency,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence explained. “Countries such as China and India have large growing economies that could compete with U.S. economic growth,” its post describes, adding:

Many cryptocurrency enthusiasts predict that either a global cryptocurrency or a national digital currency could undermine the U.S. dollar … The U.S. should prepare for scenarios that threaten to undermine the U.S. 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 U.S. would lose both its status in the world and its global authorities.” The posting further asserts: “The U.S. 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 and Scope of Research

The research opportunity above is a U.S. 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). The Director of National Intelligence, acting as the head of the Intelligence Community, oversees and directs the implementation of the National Intelligence Program and acts as the principal advisor to the president, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council.

Two positions are listed in the research opportunity posting: postdoc and research advisor. Postdoc applicants must be U.S. citizens and either recent Ph.D. graduates or doctoral students who will soon complete their degrees. Research advisor applicants must be an employee of an accredited U.S. university, college or U.S. government laboratory but are not required to be U.S. citizens. The application deadline is Feb. 28.

“This project should leverage all available information as well as recent breakthroughs in applied statistics, artificial intelligence, and deep learning to determine the most likely scenario(s) for how the U.S. dollar loses its status as the world reserve currency, why that scenario(s) is most likely, and in what timeframe this scenario(s) could unfold,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence clarified, elaborating:

It should also detail the impact of that status loss on the U.S., its economy, and national security.

What do you think of the U.S. researching how crypto could undermine the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Images courtesy of Shutterstock and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

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