Welcome to my first article written for Bybit TR.Before I begin, I want to share this: I wrote this article with the understanding that attention spans are short these days. So I'll skip the preamble and get straight to the point.In this article, we'll look at the shifting global balances in finance and economics, why these shifts matter, and how one might think about navigating this new order.As we all know, I believe that looking at recent market developments through the lens of interest rate decisions or corporate earnings alone is no longer sufficient — because the picture in front of us today has a fundamentally different structure from classic economic cycles.The US economy is facing multiple serious challenges simultaneously.
A national debt that is becoming increasingly difficult to control,
Inflation that has become entrenched,
Populism fuelled by income inequality and an intensifying US-China rivalry — these are no longer separate issues.For these reasons, I think we'll see more strategic moves in the period ahead, rather than conventional economic policies.Beyond the challenges I mentioned above, financial markets have grown so large and investing has become so widespread that markets have shifted from being an outcome of the economy to becoming the primary mechanism that drives it. In the past, a strong economy created a strong stock market. Today, a strong stock market can create a strong economy.This is because rising asset prices don't just enrich investors. They also increase collateral values, make it easier for companies to raise capital, raise banks' lending capacity, and expand governments' fiscal room to manoeuvre. As a result, a sharp market downturn today has become a systemic risk that affects not just investors but the entire economy. For this reason, I don't rule out the possibility that the US may, in the years ahead, take steps similar to — but at a much larger scale than — the model Japan has applied for many years.Japan has long indirectly supported equity markets through its central bank. The US could do this through a different structure. The establishment of a National Wealth Fund similar to Norway or Saudi Arabia, making direct investments in strategic sectors, would not be surprising.The purpose here is not merely to push the stock market higher. The real aim is to maintain global competitive superiority in critical production areas such as artificial intelligence, space technologies, and quantum computing.This is why I believe companies like Anthropic, Google DeepMind, NVIDIA, Intel, IBM, and SpaceX should not be evaluated solely on the basis of commercial success.If there is interest, in future articles — as I did in the crypto sector in 2017 — I can share how I approach thinking about quantum computing, space/defence and strategic infrastructure, AI, biotechnology, and semiconductor manufacturing; including company names and rationale.I believe that in the future, governments — led by the US — will, similarly to what China has done for years, establish direct stakes in strategic companies or support them through various mechanisms, in order to maintain and sustain competitive superiority in key sectors.We are therefore in a period where being an informed, aware participant in markets — rather than ignoring these realities — has become increasingly important.In addition, during periods like this, capital may periodically shift toward assets such as gold and silver, as it did in 2025.For crypto observers, a critical question mark exists here: Can Bitcoin overcome the fate it failed to achieve in 2025 and once again become an asset correlated with gold and silver?The answer to this depends not just on technology, but also on governments' long-term approach and the future of Bitcoin mining. We know that the US has been regulating crypto and that there is, at some point, an intent to redirect interest back here — potentially selling its own debt to retail investors via stablecoins.This may be a somewhat provocative conclusion, but I believe — particularly due to Bitcoin mining losing its appeal — that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies broadly have largely lost the high-risk, high-return allure they once offered. Accordingly, if Bitcoin were to sell off further and begin to be perceived as undervalued by the market, some may consider revisiting their allocation — though it seems certain that it no longer carries the appeal it once did.Written by Efe Bulduk. All views expressed are the author's own. This article is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, nor an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any financial instruments or digital assets. 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