Finance & economics | Free exchange

Will dollar dominance give way to a multipolar system of currencies?

Recent trends suggest the yuan will not gain much

IN THE WAKE of an invasion that drew international condemnation, Russian officials panicked that their dollar-denominated assets within America’s reach were at risk of abrupt confiscation, sending them scrambling for alternatives. The invasion in question did not take place in 2022, or even 2014, but in 1956, when Soviet tanks rolled into Hungary. The event is often regarded as one of the factors that helped kick-start the eurodollar market—a network of dollar-denominated deposits held outside America and usually beyond the direct reach of its banking regulators.

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “The once and future king”

Why Ukraine must win

From the April 2nd 2022 edition

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