Stay alert: Crypto is turning into a geopolitical weapon

I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Unregulated crypto assets can facilitate unlawful behaviour." That was Donald Trump in 2019, when he still voiced concerns shared by central bankers, International Monetary Fund (IMF) economists and financial crime experts across the world.

- SRINATH SRIDHARAN

I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Unregulated crypto assets can facilitate unlawful behaviour." That was Donald Trump in 2019, when he still voiced concerns shared by central bankers, International Monetary Fund (IMF) economists and financial crime experts across the world. The consensus was clear: crypto, while technologically innovative, lacked both intrinsic value and sovereign backing, and undermined anti-money laundering regimes as well as monetary integrity.

Fast forward to 2025. Better educated perhaps by the America crypto lobby's campaign cheques and the sweat equity gifted to his family, Trump, now US president again, recently signed Executive Order 14178. A stroke of the pen dismantled many of the regulatory guard-rails once deemed essential. Not long after, the Trump family entered the crypto business. One of their earliest strategic partners was Pakistan, a state associated with cross-border terrorism, shady finances and furtive fund diversion.

What should India make of a superpower whose political leaders launch private currencies? Or of a country where former convicts are rehabilitated as strategic advisors to sovereign crypto councils? Are we witnessing a global power in search of infinite minting rights without democratic oversight but with the full cover of plausible deniability?