Does a Multipolar World Solve the Triffin Dilemma?

Since World War II, the U.S. dollar has been the world’s primary reserve currency — a position that has brought enormous power, but also hidden instability. According to economist Robert Triffin, the very act of supplying the world with dollars would force the U.S. to run ever-growing deficits, creating the seeds of its own eventual decline.
Today, with the rise of new economic powers like China, India, and the BRICS+ bloc, a “multipolar world” is taking shape.
But will this solve the fundamental dilemma that Triffin described? Or will it simply spread the instability across multiple competing currencies?
In this session, we will explore:

• The original logic of the Triffin Dilemma.
• How the dollar's global role shaped U.S. policy, foreign and domestic.
• Whether multiple reserve currencies (yuan, euro, etc.) could create a more stable global system — or whether they risk fragmenting global liquidity even further.
• What a post-dollar world might look like — and who stands to gain or lose.

Join us for a wide-ranging conversation on money, power, and the future of the global order.

I will do short presentation on the technical aspect of the discussion. Topics will include the Triffin Dilemma, balance-of-payment equations, and how international trade works. Here are my notes so far. In my presentation, it is typically short and allows maximum opportunities for discussion and debate.