Dedollarization
mechanismMoney & Finance
A quiet effort to move global trade off the US dollar is real and growing — but it keeps hitting a wall.
Who they are
'Dedollarization,' the trend of countries reducing reliance on the US dollar, centered on the mBridge payment system as an alternative to SWIFT.
What they do
The engine treats it as a real, structural shift, not just talk.
How it works
mBridge has handled $55.5 billion in cumulative volume across 4,000-plus cross-border transactions at about half the usual cost; the dollar's share of reserves has slipped from about 72% to 58% since 2000, and central banks held roughly 863 tons of gold in 2025.
Why it matters
The engine holds both sides at once: the move away from the dollar is genuine BUT bounded — the Chinese yuan is still only about 5% of global trade and Foreign Policy reported the push 'hit a wall,' so this is real but not the death of the dollar.
The engine's record — word for word
mBridge as SWIFT alternative. $55.5B cumulative volume. 4,000+ cross-border transactions. ~50% cost reduction. Structural, not rhetorical. [Live pass Jul 1] (Live Jul 1) TENSION (held two-sided): the shift is real (dollar reserves ~72%->58% since 2000; central banks ~863t gold in 2025; PBOC yuan-internationalization blueprint Jun 17) BUT stalling — Foreign Policy (Jun 24) reports the drive 'hit a wall,' RMB only ~5% of global trade. Real but bounded, not dollar-death (distributed_control_not_totalizing).
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