The new trend/fashion in the West is to expell diplomats for no clear reason. 27 countries have now expelled Russian diplomats because they suspect Russia may have poisoned 2 citizens in the UK. However, while referring to the case, UK officials have always used the word "likely", in other words, it is just their supposition. No evidence has been showed. No standard legal procedure for this cases has been activated on the international level. In fact, no news about the health contitions of the two alleged poisoned persons have been reported any more. No word about Russia's motive to do something like that just before their elections and their hosting of the World footbal cup. The situation is foggy to say the least.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has declared:
“We know for certain that this is the result of colossal pressure and colossal blackmail that, regrettably, is Washington's main instrument in the international arena today,”

These are the countries who has refused to expell Russian diplomats:

https://news.sky.com/story/salisbury-nerve-agent-attack-which-countries-are-not-expelling-russian-diplomats-11306512

We all know the theory: Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are good because they are decentralized, and so on, blah blah blah.
However, as times goes by Bitcoin & C. seem to be less and less decentralized, as big whales become ever bigger while they manage to swallow rising percentages of the coins' supplies, and as the serious mining is concentrating in lesser and lesser hands, those few who can afford gigantic mining farms with cheap energy cost.
Decentralization is thus becoming a myth. We all can see how the cryptocurrency markets can be manipulated by whales (with their infamous Pump & Dumps) much easier than other classical markets like Forex or WallStreet, a further sytmptom of an invisible centralization.
And now the news has arrived of countries willing to do their own cryptocurrencies. Venezuela has just launched the Petro, Iran is planning its coin and apparently so does Russia - and I'd bet many more countries will soon follow. These currencies are all likely to be centralized.
Moreover, banks will probably launch their own centralized cryptocurrencies, and so will corporations. The future looks like a place with more and more centralized cryptocurrencies in competition and less and less truly decentralized cryptocurrencies, as Bitcoin & C. end up in the hands of lesser and lesser people - the super-whales. Which will be the implications of all this?
Your thoughts about?