Bitcoin as a Potential Hegemonic Watershed: Strategic Foresight on Decentralized Money and the Future of Polarity

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46991/jia.2025.1.2.160

Keywords:

Bitcoin, money, reserve currencies, cryptocurrency, FinTech , strategic foresight, hegemony, international political economy

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to assess why and how Bitcoin —as an unofficial cryptocurrency with an acephalous, dispersed and stateless governance structure— could eventually alter the distribution of polarity within the international system. Through the analytical perspective of strategic foresight as a method to scan the horizon and calculate behavioural patterns, the following contents examine five hypothetical ways (both direct and indirect) in which BTC may either facilitate a potential hegemonic transition or reshape the global balance of power in the coming decades. These prospective possibilities include: 1) Bitcoin’s potential to become a major reserve currency; 2) Bitcoin as a vector of a counter-hegemonic grand strategy; 3) the proliferation of Bitcoin as a mirror of a declining US hegemony; 4) Bitcoin as a linchpin of ‘Pax Americana’ and 5) Bitcoin as a source of inspiration to develop alternatives to the dollar. This discussion integrates the explanatory views of hybrid disciplinary models like geoeconomics, mercantile realism and economic statecraft.

Author Biography

  • José Miguel Alonso Trabanco, Centre for Defence and Security Studies, Massey University, New Zealand

    José Miguel Alonso Trabanco is a doctoral candidate in Defence and Security Studies at Massey University, New Zealand. His dissertation examines the strategic implications of digital currencies for national security and global geopolitical dynamics. His research interests include geopolitics, geoeconomics, security, foreign policy, statecraft, intelligence, grand strategy, interstate rivalries and conventional and unconventional warfare. He has experience as an analyst, researcher, policymaker, adviser, consultant, professor and lecturer.

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Published

10.12.2025

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 2 (2025)

Section

Discussion Article

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Copyright (c) 2025 José Miguel Alonso Trabanco

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Alonso Trabanco, José Miguel. 2025. “Bitcoin As a Potential Hegemonic Watershed: Strategic Foresight on Decentralized Money and the Future of Polarity”. YSU Journal of International Affairs 1 (2): 160-73. https://doi.org/10.46991/jia.2025.1.2.160.