SWIFT is a monopoly system, a monopoly born of convenience and inertia thanks to it being neutral to whims of international political spats. Enter the late stage of imperial thinking in the U.S. where our control over world affairs is waning first in the hearts and minds of various people around the world and then in policy and you have the beginning of the end of SWIFT as the only international financial transfer system. Back in 2010, I remember Jim Sinclair banging his shoe on the table about our threatening Switzerland over opening up its customer data looking for ‘tax cheats’ under FATCA. He said then that the Obama administration was idiotic for doing this. This is where I got the maxim, once you go nuclear you have no other option.

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