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

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

#331

Post by fnordsensei » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:53 PM UTC

ferguess_k wrote: post #198

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

Not so fast, though. A state can be a "killer", or a "giver", or both, to gain followers and sell its currency to other states. The US was both back in the 40s as well as the late 80s when Germany and USSR crumbled. So hail to Pax Americana. However, the US is more of a "killer" nowadays. The "killer" is usually more efficient than the "giver", because people value their life more than their wallet. So that's why I t…

Is it more efficient though? It just looks like burning long term prospects for short term ones. Which is on brand with the current regime to be fair.

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

#332

Post by tigerlily » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:53 PM UTC

omgJustTest wrote: post #69

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.

Currencies fundamentally relate to some trust. I believe that the near-term de-dollarization isn't as much trust erosion as it is a tool to provide monetary penalty for behaving in unpredictable ways. However it will provide incentive to move away from the dollar in the long-term, ie as Fareed Zakaria says "recent actions are accelerating the world to the multipolar future".

Multipolar? So kind of like Europe before the beginning of World War 1, with major powers all competing with each other?

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

#333

Post by nubg » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:54 PM UTC

DowsingSpoon wrote: post #269

chrisco255 wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There more to stability than continuity of government. Though, that definitely is important. It’s bad enough that America’s foreign policy lately swings wildly every four years. More recently, it’s been acting aggressive toward allies, and making very strange and unpredictable moves. The USA’s tariff policies are, frankly, utterly insane. Yes, I do mean the tariffs are irrational and incoherent. The approach to the t…

Why is this getting downvoted? Everything said here is true.

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

#334

Post by plaidthunder » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:54 PM UTC

FrustratedMonky wrote: post #168

softwaredoug wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not just that This is a gradual decline. From 70% in the 90s to 60% today. Today there are more options like the Euro that didn’t exist in the 90s. People can argue over EU economic stability, but it’s there as reasonable option.

when do we reach a tipping point for rapid decline? seems like once it starts falling, it would accelerate.

There's an excellent and eerily prescient novel that attempts to portray what such a "tipping point" might look like, and when it could arrive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mandibles

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

#335

Post by adamc » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:54 PM UTC

glemion43 wrote: post #117

[flagged]

Not really relevant to why there is de-dollarization. And I am not a Trump fan.

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

#336

Post by postalrat » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:55 PM UTC

krupan wrote: post #235

rlt wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin

People downvote this but Bitcoin has some very nice properties: - easy to verify/impossible to forge (as opposed to gold and paper currency) - fixed supply (as opposed to paper currency, oil, and even gold) - easy to transfer from one party to another (as opposed to gold, oil, and physical cash)

It has at least one fatal flaw: the math it is based on. I feel like it won't be too long before a few major weaknesses are found and bitcoin will lose all security.

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

#337

Post by nubg » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:55 PM UTC

Aunche wrote: post #239

llmslave wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

did you forget about all the money the fed printed during covid? fed independence is important, but literally irrelevant in the face of rampant money printing

We were in a lockdown, and Congress voted for multiple trillion dollar stimulus' financed by debt. Refusing to "print money" in those circumstances is just asking for a worse Great Depression.

Our of curiosity as I know nothing about economics, how would not printing miney lead to a Great Depression?

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

#338

Post by mlindner » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:55 PM UTC

There's one of these articles it feels like every month. And as usual, Betteridge's Law of Headlines is at play here.

There's no replacing the US dollar until a better option comes along. You need a currency that's open (which rules out Yuan), a currency that is backed up by a strong government (which rules out places like Russia, India, Japan, and the UK), and you'd want something that isn't subject to the same geopolitical rules as the US dollar (which rules out the Euro).

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

#339

Post by RealityVoid » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:55 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #327

RealityVoid wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Precisely this makes it attractive. If it can't be _your_ currency let it at least be a currency no other nation controls.

> If it can't be _your_ currency let it at least be a currency no other nation controls At that point just hoard resources. Holding a bunch of Bitcoin in a crisis is useless for a country if no other country will buy them off you in exchange for tradeable hard currency.

You are right. My point is that if you have international trade of even mild complexity, having a currency is very convenient so trade will end up being denominated in one. No reason it can't be some crypto that is not backed by any nation.

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

#340

Post by Havoc » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:56 PM UTC

mmaunder wrote: post #15

The dollar has lost 13% vs the South African Rand in the past year. Thats an interesting metric for me given how South Africa has decoupled from the US in favor of China and Russia, with a strong anti-Israel stance. And also taking into consideration how the country is still struggling with crime, corruption and uncertainty. It’s doing to be interesting to see how this plays out as the producers and makers of the wor…

>given how South Africa has decoupled from the US in favor of China and Russia

That's the party line & there have been some eye catching military exercises and statements to this effect, but daily life is still very much western aligned. It exports a ton of ore to china and imports a bunch of things from there certainly...but that's kinda just every country these days isn't it.