In ancient days, if someone had a sword and knew how to use it, and you did not, you often would either be robbed by the swordsman or become his serf. In modern days, you are subject to obey whoever has the most military force in your area. In some regions of the world, this is a warlord or a drug dealer, but in most areas it is a dictator. In a few areas, military power is supposedly controlled by democracies or republics.
If you don’t have military power, you have no political power. Look at the results of most “protests” by those without military backing around the world… usually the protestors end up in prison or dead.
The United States wields enormous influence around the world primarily because it has the most expensive military on the planet.
Russia had enormous influence prior to its invasion of Ukraine as most people in the world believed Russia had a powerful military. Russia has lost tons of influence due to the embarrassment its military has suffered in Ukraine. Putin is the dictator of Russia and uses a network of trust based relationships to delegate and spread his power around and gain more influence. Everything for a dictator like Putin is based on trust… anyone with power in Russia is someone who has long worked for Putin and has earned his trust. If a person loses Putin’s trust, they usually lose their life shortly afterwards. Most other dictatorships operate by the same principles.
Israel has quite a bit of influence for such a small state primarily due to possessing a military that punches above its weight class.
Cryptocurrencies will never work out because they try to distribute power based on something other than military force. The problem with this is that it is quite easy for any military power to ban a cryptocurrency and use guns to back it up. This is why you see many nations that have screwed up their currencies repeatedly still able to force people to use their currencies anyways.