Some time ago, I wrote an article introducing the unimaginable role that stablecoins play in the daily lives of people in Argentina.

The intention behind writing that article was twofold: first, to reflect on my own blind spots regarding the application of cryptocurrency technology in daily life due to geographical and other limitations; second, to inform everyone that while the application of cryptocurrency technology here is mainly viewed as a tool for investment/speculation, in some parts of the world, it has already been solidly integrated into the lives of local people, becoming an essential tool for their survival.

Recently, I came across an even more surprising introduction about the use of stablecoins in oil trade in Venezuela.

The South American country of Venezuela has been subjected to long-term sanctions by the United States for political reasons, one of which is the blockade of its oil trade and the severing of its dollar transaction channels.

Nevertheless, any reader with a slight understanding of international political realities knows that Venezuela still engages in significant oil trading with some countries.

So the question arises:

In such circumstances, how are its transactions settled?

According to relevant reports, 80% of the revenue from its oil trade is settled in USDT as the "currency." Furthermore, it has been reported that since 2020, Venezuela's state-owned oil company PDVSA has begun requiring buyers to settle in USDT. With this mechanism linked to stablecoins, Venezuela has maintained its oil exports and supported the national finances.

However, we all know that although USDT is issued on a permissionless blockchain, its mechanism is indeed 100% centrally controlled. Just this month, on the 11th, Tether (the parent company of USDT) froze USDT worth $182 million under pressure from the U.S., with the five wallets involved believed to be related to Venezuela's oil trade.

This occurred after changes in its leadership.

Before this, also due to U.S. pressure, Tether had frozen 41 wallets related to Venezuela over the past two years.

In fact, this is not just a case of Venezuela, but a reality that exists in many countries under U.S. sanctions in international trade, which has not been widely reported by the media.

It can be seen that any country in the world that needs to engage in international trade but cannot normally use the dollar for various reasons is essentially relying heavily on the use of dollar-pegged stablecoins.

Additionally, taking Venezuela as an example, it is worth noting that its oil buyers are required to pay (or at least pay a portion) in USDT, which means those buyers must also have USDT, while the public policies of the countries where those buyers are located do not support crypto assets.

This creates two spectra: one visible spectrum and another hidden spectrum that more accurately reflects reality.

All of this indicates that whether in the daily lives of ordinary people or in the lifeblood transactions at the national level, crypto assets have already played an important role that we cannot imagine.

However, these roles and effects are not visible to us ordinary people due to geographical, political, and other reasons.

This also indicates that as globalization comes to an end, and as geopolitical tensions and patterns further tear apart, possibly even reverting to a state of tenuous connections, the role and significance of crypto assets as a platform and medium for global communication will become increasingly immeasurable.

At this point, I suddenly recall that in the coming years, transaction privacy will be one of the important areas of advancement for Ethereum. From a purely technical perspective, this is certainly a good thing. However, politically, it is quite sensitive.

Especially in the current environment, where severe political conflicts can easily arise, will advancements in this area inadvertently involve more subtle and difficult-to-resist political factors?

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