Vahan P. Roth

  For decades, the petrodollar has been the cornerstone of American global hegemony. By ensuring that the world’s most essential commodity, crude oil, was priced and traded exclusively in United States dollars, the U.S. secured a perpetual global demand for its currency. This arrangement allowed Washington to run significant deficits and wield sanctions as a […]

  This is part three of the series on cryptocurrency. Part one can be found here, and part two is available here. The cryptocurrency sector has certainly come a long way from its disruptive, tumultuous and highly volatile beginnings 17 years ago. Yet as the industry matures and integrates into mainstream investments, it is becoming increasingly […]

  This is part two of the series on cryptocurrency. Part one can be found here, and part three is available here. Over the past several decades, government debt levels in most advanced economies have reached excesses that would have been politically and economically unthinkable only a generation ago. Borrowing has expanded relentlessly, deficits have […]

  This is part one of the series on cryptocurrency. Part two can be found here, and part three is available here. Over the past decade, the cryptocurrency sector has undergone a transformation so profound that it is barely recognizable today. Compared to the movement that first emerged with Bitcoin in 2009, there are virtually […]

  Investment “dark pools” have been at the center of a lengthy controversy, attracting much criticism and numerous calls for regulatory clampdowns. These private trading venues where large institutional investors execute orders outside public exchanges, more often than not with minimal oversight and without public attention, have frequently been described as opaque, destabilizing and unfair. […]