De-dollarization is undeniable, and the debate about the greenback's dominance is heating up. Here's what Elon Musk, Ray Dalio, Chamath Palihapitiya and 7 others are saying.

US dollar
US dollarSopa Images/Getty Images
  • An increasing number of nations are making plans to break away from the dollar's dominance of global trade and investment flows.

  • China has pursued the yuan in cross-border trade deals, while France's president has called for reduced dependence on the greenback.

  • Here's what 10 expert voices have said about the rise of a de-dollarization trend.

The de-dollarization movement is gathering global momentum, with an increasing number of nations from Asia to Europe and Latin America lining up plans to end the greenback's dominance of global trade and investment flows.

China and Brazil have made a deal to settle trade in each other's currencies, while French president Emmanuel Macron has urged Europe to wean itself off its dependence on the greenback.

The acceleration of the anti-dollar drive has seen the yuan overtake its US counterpart as the most used currency for Chinese cross-border transactions. It is also Russia's most traded currency since Moscow was largely pushed out from global finance following its war with Ukraine.

And while Goldman Sachs thinks attempts to undercut the dollar's supremacy will remain contained and constrained for years to come, other influential figures have adopted a more bearish view on the greenback.

Here's what 10 top voices have said about the anti-dollar drive.

Elon Musk, billionaire business magnate

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has warned against weaponizing currencies like the US has done with its economic sanctions, and suggested the de-dollarization trend may be linked to that.

In a tweet on Tuesday, he responded to a video post by economist Peter St Onge, in which the latter highlighted that "de-dollarization is real and is happening fast."

"Dollar share went from 73% (2001) to 55% in (2020). Went from 55% to 47% since sanction launched on Russia, now de-dollarizing at 10x faster than the previous two decades," Onge said.

Musk responded: "If you weaponize currency enough times, other countries will stop using it."

Ray Dalio, Bridgewater founder

"Dollars are debt. In other words, when one holds a dollar — a central bank — they hold a debt asset," the Bridgewater Associates founder recently said. "So the holders of that would say, 'I'm already over-exposed to US dollar-denominated debt.' And so there's less of an eagerness to buy."

Western sanctions against Russia have frozen $300 billion worth of its central bank's assets, preventing Moscow from transacting in dollar- or euro-based assets. Those sanctions "increased the perceived risk that those debt assets can be frozen in the way that they've been frozen for Russia," Dalio said.