De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025) • Hacker News Board

Re: De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)

#221

Post by snarf21 » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:20 PM UTC

maerF0x0 wrote: post #88

China is intentionally undermining the dollar in order to try to make the Yuan the world currency[1,2,3]. My current hypothesis is that the growth in the _price_ of the US Stock market (eg S&P 500) is actually devaluation of the dollar. Compared to real money (Gold) the S&P500 is down over the past 10 years. [4] 1 - https://www.reddit.com/r/economy/comments/1o2s6qp/yuan_has_s... 2 - https://www.economist.com/china/20…

I keep wondering what would happen if China and the EU came together and agreed to move all trade to the Euro as a pushback of all the current insanity. I don't think the Yuan can ever be the global trade currency given China's current structure.

Re: De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)

#222

Post by mothballed » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:20 PM UTC

parsimo2010 wrote: post #193

selectodude wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The major benefit of the US Dollar is that you can do things with it. Between export controls, currency controls, laws on foreign ownership, etc, china can pay me all the RMB in the world. I still can’t do a whole lot with it.

This is part of the same reason many people don't use Bitcoin- you can't actually do much with it because retailers don't accept it. But China is definitely thinking about how to fix that problem, and soon they will make it possible to pay directly in CNY in other countries. Once you can buy things with it, the CNY is attractive from a practical perspective. A lot of your stuff is already manufactured in China, once/…

Retailers don't accept crypto not because of the technology so much as the fact it is a capital gains event every time you transfer crypto, which means both the buyer and seller are now forced to keep a log of their gains/losses against the dollar everytime they buy a pack of gum.

Obviously that's extremely impractical and at best you're hiring a 3rd party to streamline that for you. It's a clusterfuck at tax time (edit: stable coin doesn't help here -- you must still report gains on stable coins as it is still a $0 capital gain which is different than no capital gain).

Retailers already dealing with capital gains and with high chargeback rates love it though. For instance, it's usually the cheapest same-day clearing way to buy precious metals online since credit card rates are high (chargeback), ACH takes days, and wires tend to cost $15+ with many banks.

Re: De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)

#223

Post by throwaway888666 » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:21 PM UTC

chrisco255 wrote: post #167

munk-a wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a very sudden shift though - those options have existed but not generally been seriously considered. The US was seen as a bastion of stability and while sanctions could drastically impact a country's ability to trade due to the reliance on US currency exchange it has arguably been used relatively scarcely. The change is that suddenly the US isn't a bastion of stability and having an independent trading curre…

The U.S. is as stable as it gets. It has been one continuous republic and has 250 years of legal stability and a history of paying its debts. It has 4.2% GDP growth, with the largest economy in the world and growing.

I am pretty sure the US has not 4.2 percent growth

Source?

I live in the US and I have lived in countries with 4-5 gdp growth

Re: De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)

#224

Post by vablings » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:21 PM UTC

dv_dt wrote: post #169

calvinmorrison wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe unsaid but the idea that Congress can create an organization that is not executed by the executive is the issue

If you go by the default constitutional allocations, Congress starts with much tighter control of how the executive operates than it does now. Via passage of laws, Congress over the years has chosen to delegate a lot of responsibility to the executive branch - some for pragmatic management reasons, but some as a trend of historic concentration of power towards the executive. Congress can also delegate to non exec bra…

> Via passage of laws, Congress over the years has chosen to delegate a lot of responsibility to the executive branch

Part of the reason for this is that 2-year presidents are more common, they make promises within the first two years and even if they meet them, it can take years for effects to be seen in the general population, so the party loses majority in the midterms and then nothing happens politically for the remaining two years. Congress is often slow and burdensome (for good reason) but it always makes out for a disenfranchised voter base

Re: De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)

#225

Post by Spooky23 » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:21 PM UTC

mothballed wrote: post #84

munk-a wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't prohibited by the constitution and was created as an independent body. You are correct that it wasn't specifically outlined by the constitution but that's an empty statement - the constitution included the allowance of the creation of agencies and laws outside of itself... that's the main power and strength of the constitution. Your statement was equivalent to saying that Hacker News has no constitutional ri…

The 10th amendment limits the federal government to the enumerated powers. So your argument that it "isn't prohibited" isn't how this works. You have to justify it under an enumerated power (which, you might well be able to do, though this is debatable).

From Article 1, Section 8: Powers of Congress:

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

...

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

...

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Congress's authority in this area was upheld by the foundational case McCulloch v. Maryland in 1819. The Federal Reserve System was created in 1913 by Congress via the Federal Reserve Act.

There's no serious argument that the Federal Reserve is unconstitutional. People who espouse this are ignorant of the facts and law, or are either quacks or have paid heed to the arguments are quacks.

Re: De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)

#226

Post by netbioserror » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:21 PM UTC

touwer wrote: post #51

The US century is already over. It's just that a lot of US citizens don't see that. De-dollarization will happen when one is a traitor to it's allies

There are also many Americans who have always desired de-dollarization, since the dollar has been the foundation of our imperial system and abuses of state power. Say what you will about how dated a gold standard is, but it forces immediate fiscal responsibility upon governments; fiat currencies defer responsibility, turning it into a Sword of Damocles that catastrophically falls upon future generations. You trade geopolitical dominance now for guaranteed future withering. Of course, fiscal responsibility and the rejection of imperial ambition were core principles of the Anti-Federalists, Democratic-Republicans, and Whigs. It's baked into our history and tradition to not want to be the unilateral arbiters of a global trade and alliance system.

Re: De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)

#227

Post by ad » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:22 PM UTC

chrisco255 wrote: post #182

touwer wrote: post #51

The US century is already over. It's just that a lot of US citizens don't see that. De-dollarization will happen when one is a traitor to it's allies

[flagged]

Saying “we gotta get Greenland” when the people in Greenland say they don’t want to join the US. Then refusing to rule out using force. If you want to say that no exact act of treachery has been committed, then substitute “treacherous words”, which also harms alliances.

Re: De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)

#228

Post by thehumanmeat » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:22 PM UTC

snovymgodym wrote: post #3

The international value of the dollar as a reserve and trade currency is inherently tied to the behavior of the US Government and the Federal Reserve. The behavior of the US Government has been very unusual lately, and the independence of the Federal Reserve is actively being challenged. So draw from that whatever conclusions you wish.

The Fed and largely US policy has absolutely no effect on the real reserve currency: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurodollar

Re: De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)

#229

Post by yalogin » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:22 PM UTC

The event has been in motion with every action from the administration just cementing it more. Forget about the dollar’s dominance, at this point I am not forked that he will usher in ww3, or at the very least a war between Europe as the US seems very likely

Re: De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)

#230

Post by selectodude » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:22 PM UTC

parsimo2010 wrote: post #193

selectodude wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The major benefit of the US Dollar is that you can do things with it. Between export controls, currency controls, laws on foreign ownership, etc, china can pay me all the RMB in the world. I still can’t do a whole lot with it.

This is part of the same reason many people don't use Bitcoin- you can't actually do much with it because retailers don't accept it. But China is definitely thinking about how to fix that problem, and soon they will make it possible to pay directly in CNY in other countries. Once you can buy things with it, the CNY is attractive from a practical perspective. A lot of your stuff is already manufactured in China, once/…

Paying Chinese companies in RMB isn’t the issue. If I sell something and a Chinese company pays me in RMB, I can’t really do anything with a billion yuan. Can’t buy a company (limitations on foreign ownership), can’t buy property (99-year lease that can be canceled on the whims of the government at any time), can’t buy Chinese debt (terrible yields, very small foreign market access, incredibly opaque laws and accounting), and nobody else in the world wants it so I have no choice but to sell it back to China in exchange for a real currency at whatever horseshit exchange rate they’ve concocted.

It’s worthless money and I don’t see anything out of china that would cause that to change.