While I try to stay with fact-based articles and try to avoid blogging about things that could rapidly turn into an argument I felt the need to speak up for something I have seen. Initially, it did not click with me until my brother tweeted out about it and highlighted it to me. What I saw when I looked into it was deeply disturbing and shocked that a crypto community would react this will.
What was it that was bothering me so much?
XRP Hodlers on Twitter and their reaction to Russian banks getting removed from SWIFT. I have seen many many accounts celebrate this removal as a huge coup for XRP to replace SWIFT and I really feel that people have missed the entire point of this action by Western Countries and their Allies. This article is not to get into the politics that have plagued Ripple and XRP or what I think about the SWIFT payment network. I am looking at this from what was done, Russian removal from SWIFT, and why it was done.
Russia's Ukrainian Invasion
Europe is in the middle of the largest conventional warfare since World War II and the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish. The reason I am pointing out the President's religion is that Russia has stated it is operating in Ukraine to "denazify" the Ukrainian Government. It was a comment that was met with huge backlash and people mocking the Kremlin for its failure to really think through what it was even saying. Putin declared initially that the "special military operation" was only in the Donbas region something that was quickly dispelled as both missiles and troops began to hit and attack targets across the country.
Quickly this conflict impacted ordinary civilians in Ukraine as those in the East and South quickly became trapped as Russia tried to seize the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv. The horrific actions of the Russian aggressors have reached the point of not just hospitals being bombed but yesterday a Children's Cancers Hospital was leveled. The targets also expanded to include ambulances across the country getting fired upon. More often than not these emergency vehicles were not even moving or dealing with people in the Ukrainian military or its Defense Militias but rather women, children, and the elderly.
These are gross violations of human rights thousands of civilians have been injured and dozens killed. We have seen missiles strike apartment complexes, highrises, hospitals, and schools. None of these are military targets this was a fully operational city just a week ago it is not like other is an insurgency going on that Russia is trying to combat these are these people's homes.
After escalating sanctions failed to stop the aggression and continuous push by Russia the ante was upped. In Europe, there was some hesitance to touch Russia's plug into SWIFT but that tone and stance rapidly changed. Last night it was announced several Russian banks were going to be banned from the SWIFT system.
What is SWIFT
SWIFT was created in 1972 and stands for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. It serves the purpose of a global messaging system that connects over 11,000 financial institutions around the world in more than 200 countries and territories. Something that is important to note is that SWIFT DOES NOT MOVE MONEY BUT INFORMATION ABOUT MONEY! Unlike the prior sanctions which were known to going to take some time to fully impact the country being barred from access to SWIFT will result in immediate and devastating impacts on Russia's economy.
In 2012 Iran was removed from SWIFT as part of the sanctions under its nuclear program and while some of the banks were reconnected in 2016 when Iran was kicked out they lost half of their oil export revenues and approximately 30% of their foreign trade. Iran is smaller than Russia so the impacts of being removed or as what is currently being done partially removed is devastating as they would lose access to a huge amount of international financial transactions including their profits from oil and gas production.
By removing Russia from SWIFT Russia's ability to sell fossil fuel exports and import what it needs from other countries. The economy will suffer immediately and all Russians will be impacted by this. Western Powers and their Allies hope that this will force Russia to stop the bloodshed and at a minimum go back to the negotiating table if not just completely pull out of the regions it has entered.
XRP Hodlers Statements
Countless accounts have praised the removal of Russia from SWIFT not for what it is actually doing but rather the money they hope to make in owning XRP. Ripple Labs the creator of XRP is designed to serve the purpose of cross-border payment facilitation. Hodlers are hoping that with the removal of Russia from SWIFT that Ripple could gain ground and thus XRP would increase in value making the hodlers money. While I am a fan of capitalism and technological disruption this is not the way one should hope to achieve it.
Final Thoughts
People are being driven from their homes with over 385,000 people fleeing Ukraine to the West already. Those who have stayed behind to fight are facing weaponry they have never seen or even imagined before. Then you have those who would love to leave but are trapped and cannot get out of the country even if they wished to. While I do not hold or plan to any XRP if I did I would hold out hope that Ripple and the major players would do everything they could to prevent Russia from using XRP and other cryptos like it to circumvent sanctions and continue its bloody slow-moving battle. It reminds me almost of the blood diamond issue faced by the world in the early 2000s. I do not think the crypto community wants to in any way shape or form help this blood-thirsty dictator who is causing immense human pain and suffering on civilians and now his own people.
Crypto is better than this. We hold each other responsible for our actions and that is one of the many things that makes this space special. I do not want to see it fall to the old ways of money-hungry people casting aside human life for profits.
Please know I am not a financial advisor I am just someone who picked up on a trend and wanted to express it! Makes sure you always do your own research and never invest money you cannot afford to lose! If you enjoyed this article and would like to further support me below are a couple of referral links that if you used when signing up I would appreciate it! Also, follow me on Twitter @Cje95_
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