Government-Run Digital Currencies Could Disrupt U.S. Dominance

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's announcement that the Latin American country will issue a cryptocurrency called the petro to overcome a "financial blockade" by the U.S. probably mirrors the thinking of other maverick regimes. The possibility of sanctions-busting, and generally finding a way to work outside the Western-dominated global financial system, makes cryptocurrencies attractive to non-Western nations, and the more so to rogue regimes.

The West must decide soon whether it should try to regulate cryptocurrencies out of existence or join the fray -- and perhaps lose its current financial dominance in the process.