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Comment by askmike | Hacker News Reader

SWIFT is just a messaging system, they can probably still use Telex which is the precursor to SWIFT.

I'm reasonably sure that the point is not to make Russia use Telex instead of SWIFT. The point is to stop Russia from transacting in dollars.

> the point is not to make Russia use Telex instead of SWIFT

I believe it is. Nobody is threatening sanctioning Russia's energy sector à la Iran.

I'm reasonably sure that those calling for Russia's ban from SWIFT are doing so precisely for that reason. They may not understand that banning them for SWIFT doesn't exactly accomplish that, but that's the motivation for the call.

> may not understand that banning them for SWIFT doesn't exactly accomplish that

There are numerous workarounds. Most involve Russia submitting to China. Given how unpredictable Putin’s become, that’s preferable to them being a regional power.

Or CIPS which will likely undercut this attempt of isolating Russia’s financial system.

> Or CIPS which will likely undercut this attempt of isolating Russia’s financial system

This is almost expected. The calculation being that Russia is safer as a Chinese vassal than a regional power. Settling via CIPS is also more burdensome and thus expensive than settling via SWIFT.

No, I think they'll have to go a bit more back to the past, and carry gold in chests using coach and fours.

Why not crypto?

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