Background The United States – the preeminent global power and financial backbone of the world through the ubiquitous Dollar — saw its credit rating downgraded earlier this year by Moody’s. This isn’t the first time, as it was most recently downgraded in 2023 by Fitch. Historically, a debt issuance from the U.S. Treasury is essentially…
U.S.-China trade makes up a substantial portion of each country’s international transactions. In2024, China was the fourth-largest goods trading partner of the U.S., bringing in upwards of$582.5 billion in total trade and making it a central driver of economic activity for both nations.China is a key player for American exports, providing the U.S. with markets…
Sanctions are an increasingly common tool being used to apply pressure and punishment to bad actors and adversaries on the global stage. Disconnecting financial institutions from SWIFT is a relatively new lever for conducting economic warfare. First, what is SWIFT, and what role does it play in the global financial system? What is SWIFT? SWIFT…
If the wildly successful IPO of Circle Internet Group (CRCL) and the passage of the GENIUS Act are any indication of the relevance of crypto and digital assets in today’s economy, the back half of the decade could see a revolutionary level of adoption. But how integral will stablecoins be when it comes to everyday…
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Iraq had become a hotbed for financial exploitation by Iranian-backed Iraqi militias¹. The scheme resembled the following series of steps: Essentially, financial arbitrage was conducted against a system with more than one exchange rate. For context, when governments try to protect official reserves by restricting access to foreign…
Soon after starting my first full-time job as an anti-money laundering analyst for a broker-dealer, I realized I might have stumbled onto something profound. I had just completed an internship at a D.C. think tank researching and writing on topics in national security and was eager to gain some additional experience before going back to…
