Chapter 7: The Future of the Ended Narrative
The legacy world system, particularly the advanced Western nations, having been swallowed by the grand narrative, will likely continue to prioritize existing political valuations even in the face of an ongoing currency revolution, attempting to manipulate the world to keep the masses as unaware of the transformation as possible. They will attempt to maintain the status quo using every means at their disposal, such as building a powerful digital governance regime through Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), refining financial propaganda, and strengthening the enclosure of existing institutions, but the future suggests they will ultimately end up as the underlayment for a new system where resource-rich nations rise. It is highly probable that fundamentally different currency systems will unfold in parallel worlds between the current advanced nations and the resource-rich nations, and we stand at a historical turning point where parallel worlds are becoming reality.
The self-defense instinct of the Western financial system has already manifested in the form of CBDC development. Major central banks in advanced nations, such as the European Central Bank's digital euro, the Bank of England's digital pound, and the Bank of Japan's digital yen, are all simultaneously promoting CBDC development. While these efforts ostensibly aim to improve efficiency and promote financial inclusion, their true objective lies in achieving complete surveillance and control over the economic activities of their citizens.
In a CBDC system, every transaction is recorded in real-time by the central bank, allowing for detailed insight into an individual's spending patterns, political leanings, and even social relationships. Designed as programmable currency, CBDCs can technically implement arbitrary restrictions based on political objectives, such as prohibiting the purchase of specific goods, regional usage limitations, or time-based expiration dates. This is the ultimate form of individual control through currency and the technical realization of an Orwellian surveillance society.
Even more significant is the fact that CBDCs make negative interest rate policies technically feasible. If the lower bound on interest rates, which was constrained by the existence of physical cash, is abolished by CBDCs, central banks can promote forced consumption and investment by imposing significantly negative interest rates. This decisively limits an individual's economic freedom and technically invalidates the fundamental right to save.
However, these measures to strengthen control paradoxically increase the demand for alternative systems. Economic actors who dislike surveillance and control will inevitably seek payment methods other than CBDCs. Decentralized and censorship-resistant currencies like the UNIT system will function as a refuge from the control imposed by CBDCs. Ironically, the strengthening of control by Western nations will diminish the appeal of their own currency systems and promote the adoption of competing systems.
The refinement of financial propaganda is also an important self-defense measure. Through mainstream media, academic institutions, and international organizations, information manipulation will be deployed to emphasize the legitimacy of the existing system and advertise the dangers of alternative systems. This is a strategy to incite skepticism and anxiety toward the new system using arguments such as 'UNIT is the currency of dictatorial states,' 'distributed ledger technology is environmentally destructive,' and 'a return to the gold standard is anachronistic.'
However, the effectiveness of information control is limited. With the spread of the internet and social media, the monopoly on information is already difficult to maintain. In particular, if economic actors who actually use the UNIT system demonstrate its convenience and stability, the effectiveness of the propaganda will rapidly dissipate. Practical proof based on technical superiority carries more persuasive power than denial through rhetoric.
Strengthening the enclosure of existing institutions is also an expected self-defense measure. Through international financial institutions such as the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank, pressure and sanctions against countries using UNIT will likely be considered. Attempts will be made to block the spread of the new system under pretexts such as 'threatening the stability of the international financial system' or 'becoming a hotbed for money laundering and terrorist financing.'
However, these pressures are highly likely to have the opposite effect. The threat of financial sanctions and international isolation strengthens the motivation for sanctioned countries to transition to alternative systems. The current situation where Iran and Russia are expanding transactions denominated in yuan and rubles due to Western sanctions demonstrates this paradoxical effect. There is a structural contradiction where the more pressure is applied, the stronger the cohesion of the alternative system becomes.
Divisions will likely progress within Western nations as well. Countries with high dependence on resource imports, countries with large trade ratios with China and Russia, and countries affected by the side effects of financial sanctions may prioritize practical benefits over maintaining the existing system. Severing relationships with resource-rich nations—such as Germany's natural gas, Japan's rare metals, and South Korea's semiconductor materials—is fatal even for Western nations.
Due to such divisions, the cohesion of the Western camp will gradually weaken. Even if they maintain a superficial unity due to pressure from the United States, each country will explore building relationships with the new system behind the scenes. Switzerland's neutrality policy, Singapore's pragmatism, and the UAE's multi-vector diplomacy are pioneering examples of this trend.
Meanwhile, the construction of the new system will accelerate in the resource-rich sphere. Emerging economic zones centered on the BRICS nations will form their own economic bloc based on the UNIT system, gradually reducing their dependence on the Western system. Once transactions for essential goods such as oil, natural gas, mineral resources, and agricultural products are conducted in UNIT, Western nations will no longer be able to ignore their relationship with the new system.
In this process, two parallel currency systems will emerge. In the Western sphere, a highly managed system using CBDCs will be established, and citizens will conduct economic activities under complete surveillance. On the other hand, in the resource-rich sphere, a decentralized and autonomous economy using the UNIT system will develop, realizing free economic activity without political constraints. This is a fundamental split in economic systems, different from the political division of the Cold War era.
What is interesting is the contrast between the managed system of the Western sphere and the free system of the resource-rich sphere. Traditionally, Western nations have championed 'freedom' and 'democracy' while criticizing authoritarian states. However, with the advent of the UNIT system, this value conflict is reversed. A new axis of conflict is born: a Western sphere that prioritizes political control and a resource-rich sphere that prioritizes economic freedom.
This reversal phenomenon signifies the invalidation of existing political categories. 20th-century conflict paradigms such as 'democracy versus authoritarianism' and 'liberalism versus totalitarianism' are relativized by a new standard: the technical superiority and inferiority of economic systems. What matters is not the political regime, but the practicality and efficiency of the economic system.
A shift in perception at the mass level is also an important factor. Currently, the masses in Western nations are only looking at numbers in the financial system and are unaware of changes in the real economy. They focus on bank account balances, stock price fluctuations, and real estate price trends, while neglecting the importance of physical assets, which are the actual source of wealth. This is a distortion of cognition caused by financial capitalism.
However, due to the progression of inflation, supply chain disruptions, and energy crises, the importance of physical goods is being re-recognized. Soaring food prices, surging fuel costs, and rising housing costs make the value of physical assets more tangible than financial assets. This shift in perception promotes understanding and support for the UNIT system, which is based on physical collateral.
Policymakers in Western nations will attempt a final resistance to stop the progress of this quiet revolution. They will use every means, such as financial warfare, information warfare, and technical sanctions, to obstruct the spread of the new system. However, a system transition based on technical superiority and economic rationality is difficult to stop through political intervention.
As a result, Western nations will be forced to gradually succumb to the new system. It will begin with unofficial transactions, gradually develop into official relationships, and ultimately lead to forced partial participation in the new system. This process is humiliating, but inevitable due to economic necessity.
The realization of parallel worlds has already begun. With the separation of Eastern and Western economic systems, the exchange of sanctions and counter-sanctions, and the establishment of alternative international organizations, the world is already splitting into two economic spheres. The emergence of the UNIT system will make this split definitive and herald the birth of a new world order. Standing at a major turning point in history, we are witnessing the dawn of a new era.