Bankless Founder: Ethereum in the New World Order

By David Hoffman, Founder of Bankless

Compiled by: Hu Tao, ChainCatcher

This year’s Davos Forum was wonderful.

It brings together many heavyweights in the crypto industry, including Brian Armstrong, Jeremy Allaire, CZ, and Larry Fink.

While cryptocurrencies are the focus of this forum, what truly captures attention is the Trump administration’s clear statement on a phased shift in the global order.

This was highlighted by two important presentations at the Davos Forum. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard delivered a speech titled “Globalization has failed,” while Canadian Prime Minister Mark responded: "The rules-based international order is undergoing a rupture, not a transformation. ”

Rules-Based International Order vs. Law of the Jungle

Since World War II, the international community has maintained a certain level of order and cooperation. Although the United Nations has relatively little power, it is highly respected and plays a pivotal role in the decision-making of various countries.

“International law” used to be real, but mainly because we all believed in it. Together, we give it meaning.

The Trump administration decided to debunk this common illusion.

Trump believes that this “rules-based international order” exists simply because the United States allows it to exist. As the most powerful country with the strongest military power, it means that we are the ones who really build this “rules-based international order”, and Trump’s “America First” philosophy means that he no longer wants to be friendly with the rest of the world.

According to Trump, as Lutnick articulated in his speech, this model is not in the best interests of the United States, so we are now going to look the other way.

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Nic Carter is right – the state is the highest level of organization created by mankind. Before the advent of the nation-state, religion and monarchy were the highest levels of organizational structure that humanity could create, and before that there were feudalism and tribes.

We have tried to build higher-level organizational structures through “common agreements” with institutions such as the United Nations, but these agreements have proven to be very fragile and have little impact on the world.

So we are in a situation where by 2026, the United States has abandoned attempts to build a higher-level unified organizational structure and claims that we are better off on our own.

It is worth mentioning that “pariah states” like Russia and Iran rely on a weak international order to strengthen themselves. They have always pursued the rule of power and exploited the weaknesses of the “rules-based international order” to expand their power, committing human rights violations that the United Nations merely condemns.

Although it is regrettable to see that attempts at global cooperation ultimately fail, at least we can finally frankly point out that Russia and others have never really followed these rules.

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and decentralized crypto protocols

Decentralized crypto protocols are strong and autonomous “higher-level organizational structures” that they have failed to achieve from the “rules-based international order” paradigm.

Trump’s division of the unifying international community is exactly what Ethereum aims to balance.

When a unified world falls apart and becomes a regional power, Ethereum reunifies it in cyberspace.

These agreements do not enforce the law and do not protect their members. They do not replace nation-states. However, they are a ubiquitous, autonomous coordinating layer for the people of the world to unite.

Brian Armstrong’s conversation with the governor of the Bank of France exemplifies this power. The central banker made the mistake that all central bankers make: misunderstanding and underestimating Bitcoin. Brian corrected him, stating that “Bitcoin has no issuer – it’s a decentralized protocol …”, and then he went on to elaborate on Bitcoin’s most important role in unifying the world: "… [Bitcoin] is actually the most effective accountability mechanism in terms of deficit spending. ”

No, we cannot establish a “rules-based international order” through voluntary coordination and cooperation between countries. But can we get a “rules-based international order” from a decentralized, cryptography-based internet protocol?

The mechanism of operation of Bitcoin is “if… Then …”. It sounds like a “rules-based international order” to me. Doesn’t Ethereum extend the same principle to Turing-complete smart contracts?

Despite the current despair and negativity in the cryptocurrency industry, I remain convinced that the potential of smart contracts is far from being tapped.

So, perhaps we will not be able to get a “rules-based international order” from the United Nations.

Perhaps we will get it from unexpected places.

Maybe we’ll get it from Ethereum.