Norris McDonald | Crypto imperialism: Can America’s bitcoin gamble rob Jamaica’s reserves?

JAMAICA IS playing with fire. Our external debt of US$13.4 billion is tied to the US dollar, and our US$6.15 billion in foreign reserves are parked in US banks and Treasury holdings. With Washington now pivoting into speculative crypto under the 2025 GENIUS Act, those reserves could vanish overnight.

The country is already shackled to the IMF in a marriage of inconvenience. If a US digital dollar spirals into volatility, debt repayments could explode. Worse, a crypto-driven bank run in America could wipe out Jamaica’s savings in one blow.

Remember El Salvador? They made crypto legal tender. Their economy tanked, and they had to beg the IMF for a bailout.

Where is the Bank of Jamaica? Where is the Ministry of Finance? Have they even looked at what this GENIUS Act could mean for us?

THE TRUMPS, CRYPTO AND A DANGEROUS GAMBLE

By legitimising cryptocurrency as a national asset, the US is effectively building a parallel digital monetary system outside the traditional oversight of central banks. Worse, US regulators such as the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation now say that banks can engage in crypto-related activities without prior approval.

But how do we know that countries with overseas deposits in America, including small nations such as Jamaica, will not lose their investments?

We have no guarantee since all the institutions have to say is that “they are managing the risks”. The same is true for Jamaicans in the diaspora with retirement income, savings and investments in banks or money management firms.

Meanwhile, Trump and his family’s entanglement in shady crypto ventures is staggering. Combined with their allies’ disregard for international legal norms, US debt could be recast into speculative “digital assets”. What safeguards exist to prevent this? None. That’s a risk too big to ignore.

Senator Elizabeth Warren has sharply criticised the Trump administration’s so-called ‘GENIUS Act’, denouncing it as a corrupt tool designed to enrich the president and his MAGA allies. Warren described the bill as a green light for corruption, arguing that it would allow Trump and his family to profit off the legislation. In a scathing rebuke, she accused Trump of “turning the White House into a crypto casino where the house always wins – and the house is called Trump”.

Reports suggest that the Trump family now holds over US$2 billion in crypto assets – spiking to US$6 billion during bull markets. World Liberty Financial has launched tokens such as WLFI and the USD1 stablecoin. Meme coins branded with the Trump name rake in millions. Even First Lady Melania Trump has launched her own cryptocurrency called $MELANIA token.

CRYPTO IMPERIALISM AND OTHER US MONETARY SCAMS

Since the 1970s, the US has failed to achieve consistent, broad-based economic development. Its ballooning debt is matched by rising social fragmentation. Instead of addressing root problems, America survives by exporting crisis – through tariffs, trade speculation, and now, digital finance.

World-systems theorist Immanuel Wallerstein provides the intellectual lens. Using his prism, we can describe the last 50 years as, what Wallerstein would call, “the terminal phase of international capitalism”. A period of its rising decadency. Just as he predicted, industrial production in America and Western Europe has been on a long-term, rollers coaster, but downward spiral.

Coming out of the 2007-08 crisis, Washington pumped cash into the system, and crypto became a hiding place for excess liquidity – a shadow monetary system. With industrial decline and debt rising, the new hustle is to inflate away US$37 trillion of obligations through speculative tokens.

With Western industrial production declining and massive debt rising in America, Europe, and many countries of the world, the option presented to save the system is more cryptocurrency hustle. This manoeuvre could allow Washington to offload the cost of its US$37 trillion national debt – not by paying it down, but by inflating away its value.

American cryptocurrencies are financial gambling assets, made from thin air, minted with massive electricity, and given a unique computer code. These crypto assets are backed only by hype. They may serve speculative gambling games but cannot substitute for real production. In contrast, China’s digital yuan is backed by US$3.3 trillion in reserves stemming from production and real economic activity.

In the meantime, the world is changing and shaking off the American dollar’s imperial dominance. Nations are building financial firewalls: China expands Belt and Road; Russia, India, Saudi Arabia and Qatar trade in their own currencies; BRICS experiment with gold-backed units; Africa develops the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System. America’s pivot to crypto may delay its decline, but it cannot prevent it.

CAN CRYPTO MADNESS ROB JA’S US RESERVES?

My dear friends, these are crucial times in our nation’s history. Beneath the headlines of economic stability lies a web of vulnerability that too many in power seem reluctant to address. With over US$13 billion in external debt – most of it tied to the US dollar – and only enough foreign reserves to cover a few months of food imports once debt payments are deducted, the margin for error is razor-thin.

Now, with the United States moving into uncharted territory through the GENIUS Act and its embrace of crypto and digital assets, Jamaica’s exposure becomes even more precarious. If any portion of our reserves, pensions, or remittance flows is linked – directly or indirectly – to these speculative instruments, we could be staring down a financial cliff?

This is a call for an end to trust deficiency, for greater transparency, accountability, and above all, responsible national political leadership.

The Government must come clean with the Jamaican people. Are our reserves entangled in American crypto-backed assets?

We need a parliamentary inquiry into the structure and security of our foreign reserves and external holdings. Civil society, the media, and the business community must demand action now!

We cannot afford to wait for the crash to ask the hard questions. By then, it will be too late. We must protect our reserves – and our people – before it’s too late.

That’s just the Bitta Truth.

Norris R. McDonald is an author, economic journalist, political analyst, and respiratory therapist. Feedback: columns@gleanerjm.com and miaminorris@yahoo.com