10/04/2022
The US may have the world's most powerful military, but the dollar is its greatest weapon. Now, after nearly 80 years of dollar dominance, the US might be in danger of losing its global reserve currency status.
About 60% of the $12.8 trillion in global currency reserves are currently held in dollars, giving the US an exorbitant privilege over other countries. And that privilege pays: Because US government debt backed by the dollar is very attractive, interest rates are lower. The US gets to borrow from other countries in its own currency — so if the US dollar loses value, debt does too. American businesses can make international transactions in dollars without having to pay conversion fees.
Perhaps most importantly, in extreme circumstances the US can cut off dollar access to central banks around the globe, isolating and draining their economies. Raghuram Rajan, the former governor of the Reserve Bank of India calls this power an "economic weapon of mass destruction."
