Barry Eichengreen is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of "Money Beyond Borders", a book that draws parallels between the Roman currency system and the modern dollar's role as the global reserve currency. He has previously pointed out that allies dependent on American security, such as Germany and South Korea, hold a bigger share of their foreign-exchange reserves in dollars than countries with no such military presence. He warns that America is repeating Rome's mistakes: Donald Trump's desire to curtail trade, reduce America's military footprint, and recklessly increase the budget deficit while undermining the independence of the central bank all hurt the dollar's status. He notes that none of the dollar's potential successors—the euro, the Chinese yuan or bitcoin—comes with the full complement of commercial, military and institutional virtues that underpinned both the Roman currency and the dollar.
Great minds run in great circles.