This is the topic I'd like to explore next. From the recent Russo-Ukrainian war, it's evident that Russia has moved away from the dollar-centric, euro-assisted currency calculation system.

The decentralization within blockchain that has emerged in recent years has also led to changes in settlement methods.

Where is the current dollar-dominated international currency settlement system headed?

I'll make a note of this for future exploration when I have the time.

Feel free to leave a comment if you're interested. Your input is welcome!

It's interesting that this topic was suggested here as:
- Mercury, signifying commerce, trade and exchange, is currently right at the degree of the recent April Solar Eclipse (bad omen).
- Jupiter in Taurus as an indicator of wealth just separated from Uranus and is conjunct malefic star Algol .
- Pluto, which symbolizes financial power(among other things) just turned Rx. in Aquarius (technology?)...opposite TNP Vulcanus.
- Venus in Taurus is combust the Sun and conjunct fixed star HAMAL.
- Moon is with one of the lunar nodes.

When I cast a horary about this, Saturn was in the 7th house and Moon VOC (though it applied to conjoin Mercury L1 and L10 in the 8th).

wei

it's an interesting question you ask in your post - "Where is the current dollar-dominated international currency settlement system headed?"

one can consider some astrology charts as the fellow in the article below has done for starters.. this writer has focused on bitcoin in particular..
https://astrostyle.com/aquarian-technocalypse/

my own belief is that war = money... maybe it is about power too, but they are very interconnected.. as i see it the ''financial sanctions'' game has kind of run out of steam.. it is presently being played out in the war in ukraine and to a certain extent in other areas around the globe too, but ultimately these wars are about finances and who gets to dominate financially... who gets to control the world financial system? i believe we are seeing a sea change here, where countries that have traditionally always accepted the dominance of the us$ since the advent of ww2 and a number of ''international institutions'' set up to favour the us$ are coming under direct threat.... loyalties are shifting or being dropped... obviously the BRICS alliance is a clear indication of this and of course many see this as a real threat to the status quo...

i am curious about your astrological take on any or all of this..

Changes in the international status of the US Dollar:

I. The Decline of the Pound Sterling in the 1930s and the Rise of the US Dollar After World War II

1. In the early 20th century, Britain's power began to decline, leading to the pound sterling leaving the gold standard in 1931.

(1) Between 1815 and 1920: The pound sterling was the primary international currency, reflecting Britain's Industrial Revolution in the 1760s, which accumulated significant military and economic strength and expanded overseas, becoming the world's largest colonial power. As a result, the pound sterling maintained a dominant position globally.

(2) The Great Depression in 1929 also severely impacted the British economy, leading Britain to abandon the gold standard and causing the pound sterling to depreciate, resulting in the pound crisis of 1931. Additionally, Britain's weakened strength after two world wars led to the gradual decline of the pound sterling's international status.

2. After World War II, the United States introduced the Marshall Plan to assist in the reconstruction of Europe, increasing the use of the US dollar in Europe and consolidating its international status.

(1) The pound crisis of 1931 led to Britain's departure from the gold standard. Furthermore, with Europe being the main battlefield of two world wars, the influence of the US dollar increased and surpassed that of the pound sterling.

(2) The Bretton Woods system was established in July 1944, where the US dollar maintained a fixed relationship with gold, set at $35 per ounce of gold. The United States pledged to maintain the parity of the US dollar to gold. Other member countries' currencies were pegged to the US dollar, and exchange rates between member countries were determined accordingly, forming the gold exchange standard. The US dollar officially became the primary international currency.

(3) From 1948 to 1951, the United States implemented the Marshall Plan to aid in the reconstruction of Europe, aiming to prevent the deterioration of the post-war European economy, contain the spread of communism, promote economic stability, and enhance European trade. The plan achieved tremendous success, with some advocating for its extension to other regions.

Summary: The Rise of the US Dollar in Place of the Pound Sterling

- 1914: Outbreak of World War I, leading to Britain temporarily suspending the gold standard.
- 1915: US exports surpassed those of Britain, establishing the US dollar as an important international currency alongside the pound sterling.
- 1929: The Great Depression prompted Britain to abandon the gold standard, culminating in the pound crisis of 1931.
- July 1944: The Bretton Woods system was established, solidifying the US dollar as the primary international currency.
- 1948: The US Marshall Plan provided aid for the reconstruction of Europe, further strengthening the international status of the US dollar.

II. The Dissolution of the Bretton Woods System in the 1970s

1. The Nixon Shock: Starting in the late 1960s, the Bretton Woods system began to face challenges. The main reasons included the rapid expansion of the global economy and trade after World War II, leading to increased demand for the US dollar worldwide. However, the United States experienced a balance of payments deficit in the early 1970s due to domestic economic issues and the Vietnam War, causing an accelerated outflow of the US dollar. Market expectations of a potential devaluation of the US dollar grew, making it difficult to maintain the fixed exchange rate between the US dollar and gold. On August 15, 1971, President Nixon announced the suspension of the US dollar's convertibility into gold, known as the Nixon Shock, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system.

2. Collapse of the Bretton Woods System: Following the Nixon Shock, US Treasury Secretary John Connally famously stated at a meeting of ten nations in Rome in late November 1971, "The dollar is our currency, but it’s your problem," indicating the unsustainable nature of the Bretton Woods system. Despite reaching the Smithsonian Agreement at the end of the same year, where major countries announced a devaluation of the US dollar against gold by 7.9%, it was unable to reverse the situation. On February 12, 1973, the US dollar was devalued to $42.22 per ounce of gold, but the selling pressure on the US dollar persisted. Major countries subsequently abandoned the gold standard, moving towards a floating exchange rate system, officially leading to the collapse of the Bretton Woods system.

3. Rise of the Floating Exchange Rate System: After the dissolution of the Bretton Woods system, major countries reached the Jamaica Accords in 1976, acknowledging the adoption of a floating exchange rate system and the abandonment of the official gold price. This marked the transition to an international monetary "non-system," based on fiat currencies. The US dollar continued to dominate primarily due to the United States maintaining a vast economic scale and the inertia effects resulting from network externalities, making it the most significant international currency.

III. During the high inflation periods of the 1970s and 1980s, the international monetary system experienced significant fluctuations, and the status of the US dollar temporarily declined.

1. In the early stages of the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system, major countries adopted floating exchange rate regimes. However, due to various shocks such as the Vietnam War, the Yom Kippur War, the oil crisis, and fiscal deficits, coupled with a lack of nominal anchors (such as inflation targeting), high inflation issues arose. As a result, the price of gold continued to rise against the US dollar.

2. The United States experienced a current account deficit in the early 1970s due to factors such as the Vietnam War and the oil crisis. Although there was a temporary improvement, the deficit expanded again in the 1980s. Meanwhile, Japan and West Germany saw an expansion in their current account surpluses, leading to a significant appreciation of their currencies against the US dollar. Consequently, the share of the US dollar in foreign exchange reserves of various countries decreased from over 80% to below 50%.

3. Despite not being pegged to gold and facing twin deficits, the US dollar continued to maintain its status as the primary international currency due to its political and economic strength.

IV. With the end of the Cold War in 1990 and the accelerated pace of globalization, the dominance of the US dollar increased, driving global financial cycles.

Reference: https://knowledge.cbc.gov.tw/front/refe ... QMADM1Yi5g

The SWIFT Monthly Report released on August 23, 2023, indicated that the Chinese Yuan maintained its position as the fifth most active global payment currency in July, accounting for 3.06% of global payments. This marks the sixth consecutive month of increase, and the second time the Yuan has surpassed the 3% mark in global payment shares since records have been kept.

According to the report, the top five currencies in terms of payment shares in July were the US Dollar, Euro, British Pound, Japanese Yen, and Chinese Yuan, with payment shares of 46.46%, 24.42%, 7.63%, 3.51%, and 3.06% respectively.

According to Financial News, the last time the Yuan surpassed 3% was in January 2022 when it reached 3.2% of international payments, breaking the previous record set in 2015.

The increase in global payment share of the Yuan comes as no surprise, given recent news related to the internationalization of the Yuan, such as the completion of the first transaction settled in Yuan for imported liquefied natural gas in mainland China, the Yuan surpassing the Euro to become the second largest currency in Brazil's foreign exchange reserves, and Argentina's first use of the Yuan to repay foreign debt.

However, the usage of the US Dollar as a global payment currency also saw a significant increase in July, reclaiming the top spot with a payment share of 46.46%, reaching a historic high. A decade ago, this proportion was just slightly over one-third. This indicates that despite calls from emerging economies, such as those forming the BRICS Bank, to increase the proportion of local currency financing to reduce risks associated with the US Dollar, its role in the international financial market remains strong.

It is worth noting that the increase in the US Dollar's payment share in the SWIFT report may have been at the expense of the Euro. In July, the Euro's payment share dropped to 24.42%, its lowest since the Euro's inception.

[News Source: https://udn.com/news/story/7333/7392764]

I'm contemplating the idea of becoming an international currency.

1. Accounting/Exchange = Mercury
2. Trust/Credit = Sun (The essence of the financial system/currency is credit)

Then, I observed that on the day the UK (the union with Ireland) laws came into effect, Mercury formed a antisical conjunction with the Sun. Additionally, the Sun formed a trine with Mars, indicating warfare (expansion of overseas colonies) (The UK began expanding its overseas colonies in 1868).
Regarding the USA (date of signing the Declaration of Independence), both Mercury and the Sun were in the sign of Cancer. The Sun formed a antisical conjunction with Mars, which was positioned in Gemini - the sign guarded by Mercury.

The rise and fall of the dollar are closely intertwined with warfare.

Digital currency allows for decentralization, meaning you can mine without centralized control.

In other words, you can acquire digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum through mining without entering the circulation domain.

As long as the price of Bitcoin exceeds the cost of production, profits can be made.

Bitcoin was issued on January 3, 2009.

Ethereum was issued on July 30, 2015.

Litecoin was issued on October 7, 2011.

Mining = Saturn.

james_m wrote: Sun May 05, 2024 7:56 pm my own belief is that war = money...

Hi James,

The national charts of both the UK and the USA have indeed confirmed your insightful observations.

james_m wrote: Sun May 05, 2024 7:56 pm
as i see it the ''financial sanctions'' game has kind of run out of steam

Transiting Neptune in Pisces squares the USA's Mars in Gemini.

On March 30, 2025, Neptune leaves Pisces and enters Aries, a sign ruled by Mars.

Captain America has returned!

In fact, I envisaged an outcome to the Russia-Ukraine conflict where Russia doesn't appear to win, and Ukraine doesn't appear to lose. And then, no one would launch nuclear missiles. ╮(╯_╰)╭

I think I have discovered some patterns in the economic crises of the United States.

When Neptune enters the Mutable Signs, it affects the Mars in Gemini of the United States.

Neptune - Pisces - April 4, 2011: The U.S. debt ceiling crisis.

Neptune - Sagittarius - January 5, 1970: The U.S. failure in the Vietnam War and the abandonment of the Bretton Woods system.

Neptune - Virgo - July 24, 1929: The Great Depression in the United States.

Wei wrote:

Changes in the international status of the US Dollar:

Thanks Wei that whole page is very useful background research on the current global financial. Did you get some of that from Chat GPT? I ask as I know you use it. It certainly came up with useful information!

You highlighted something I had been considering for a while which is is the Nixon Shock chart the chart for the Global financial system we have today?

Mark

hi wei

thanks for your additional commentary...
regarding your post @ Mon May 06, 2024 6:34 am, it looks like a copy and paste from maybe a few sources.... regarding the later half - SWIFT... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWIFT

the data from the swift monthly report doesn't include all the transactions taking place today outside of this system of tracking.. read the section in the wikipedia link above on swift and sanctions... you'll quickly learn that usa led sanctions ( these are not UN sanctions or international sanctions ) have been used in a 'might makes right' manner - again just like the financial sanction approach earlier that i mentioned which is used to try to dominate others monetarily.. SWIFT was supposed to be an ''international type'' system of payment but it has led to countries ( typically sanctioned by the usa) getting around it.. china and russia are now doing exchange between each other without going thru the us$ to do this... as a consequence the data in the swift monthly report is inaccurate... the data is skewed but nothing is mentioned about any of this in the swift monthly report..

i made some post here at skyscript in 2020 about plutos approx 250 year cycle and the length of empires... https://skyscript.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10928 ... someone else did later too - viewtopic.php?t=11679
i brought up the usa at the time in the context of this.. personally i think that is more what is going on here with regard to the usa chart - the pluto return and the breakdown of an existing empire into something else... it is premature to say, but that is my take at this point astrologically speaking.. of course the us$ is central to all of this.. the divide between people in the usa at present with the usa election coming up in november, couldn't be more stark..

as for nixon coming off the gold exchange.. that was precipitated by the cost of the war in vietnam... once the us$ was no longer pegged to gold - the us$ became solely a fiat currency based only on the faith people had/have in it.. that is essentially what we have for a world financial system right now - faith based money, as opposed to money supported by something tangible like gold.. there may be a few international exceptions to this, but as far as i understand it, most of the world is operating in this state..

one of perk out of the bretton woods agreement was denominating oil in us$... any trade in oil would benefit the us$... you'd have to look at the power dynamic between the usa-ksa and etc to get a better feel for some of this, but again - for those countries that are avoiding the hegemon, alternatives continue to be sought after and cultivated... it is becoming increasingly difficult to actually track what is going on globally, but a real switch is taking place at present.. that is my impression and of course the concept of war=money is very central to it all too..

i appreciate you are trying to come up with an idea as to what is going on astrologically in all of this! i was too and my best guess is the pluto return to the usa chart defines a good chunk of where we are at on the world stage at present..

Mark wrote: Mon May 06, 2024 9:33 pm Wei wrote:

Changes in the international status of the US Dollar:

Thanks Wei that whole page is very useful background research on the current global financial. Did you get some of that from Chat GPT? I ask as I know you use it. It certainly came up with useful information!

I have referenced the analysis of professionals from the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) regarding the changes in the historical status of the US dollar. (I have attached the reference material links in the post, albeit they are in Traditional Chinese).

Currently, ChatGPT primarily assists me in learning English and programming. After all, ChatGPT is a large language model and serves as a chat software. It is more suitable to use it for language and programming learning (which is also a form of language). For specialized analyses like this, we still need to rely on experienced professionals.

Hi James,

Your observations are very insightful and profound.

Personally, I believe that we cannot know all the truths. There are many hidden aspects in this world.

Currently, the US dollar seems a bit out of control. I sense that the US Treasury Department seems to want to print as many dollars as they wish.

Recently, there have been more bank failures in the United States.