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The highly visible collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX bears the familiar scent of rogue trading scandals and Ponzi schemes gone sour: the befuddled previously invincible frontman (it’s almost always a man, often a young one), billions gone missing, and once-promising “innovation” revealed as simple fraud.

It would be easy to dismiss this situation as just another instance of technology getting ahead of regulation, and fools being parted from their money. The conventional wisdom would suggest that cryptocurrencies are on the wane while fiat currencies remain dominant — especially the dollar.

But 2023 will set the stage for a deeper, more dangerous, confrontation between central banks, legacy cryptocurrency, and asset-backed digital currencies, in which Putin and his allies are now poised to profit.