Credit Suisse's senior analyst Zoltan Pozsar stated in a report published on December 20th that if Russia offers two barrels of oil for every gram of gold to offset the $60 per barrel cap set by the West, it would attract more countries to move away from the "petrodollar" and closer to a "petrogold" system, indicating that the role of the US dollar is effectively being revalued.

The Central Bank of Russia announced on December 16th that it is preparing to build a new Asian currency system anchored in gold or digital gold to distance itself from the US dollar and introduce an alternative to the "petrodollar" called "petrogold," settling oil transactions in gold to phase out the US dollar.

This suggests that Russia will use its vast gold reserves to launch a gold-backed digital oil currency to compete with the petrodollar.

For instance, Turkey, a major global gold buyer in recent years, could sell gold to the Russian Central Bank in exchange for oil.

Earlier, India and Iran also explored the possibility of purchasing oil with gold.

These new developments provide the latest trend for the decline of the petrodollar system.

The mechanism behind the current operation of the US dollar is well-known, precisely through the "oil-dollar-treasury" perfect oil currency loop, which additionally supports the use of the US dollar and its status as the world's main reserve currency after parting ways with gold.

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Transactions are completed through an international settlement system indirectly controlled by the US, turning the US dollar from a gold dollar to a petrodollar, becoming the cornerstone of the global financial order.

On this point, former US Secretary of State Dr. Henry Kissinger once made an accurate explanation: "If you control oil, you control the world economy; if you control currency, you control the whole world."

It is clear that this fixed petrodollar play has revealed the root of the US dollar's ability to dominate global financial foreign exchange and commodity pricing settlements over the past decades and continuously restrict multiple oil-producing countries.

However, with the emergence of significant de-dollarization events, the situation has taken a new turn.

This can be seen from the latest IMF report and hot financial news, where the US dollar's status is on the verge of a historical decline.

For specific data trends, please refer to the chart below.

Another new sign is that the international settlement financial system dominated by the US dollar and the petrodollar cracks are expanding within the US and its economic allies, which will accelerate the breakthrough of the US dollar's currency status contraction.

The restricted transactions of the petrodollar on Russia, Iran, and Venezuela, three oil-producing countries, have further propelled the global market to seek alternative solutions.

In this regard, Wall Street veteran and American author James Rickards stated in a report updated and published on December 19th, "The development of digital reserve currencies supported by gold or a basket of strong currencies may weaken the role of the US dollar in the global financial and foreign exchange trading system.

The trend of a parallel international payment settlement standard with the US dollar is unstoppable."

According to data from the Bank for International Settlements on December 16th, by October, more than 20 countries have established financial settlement systems independent of the US dollar, especially since March of this year, this process has significantly accelerated.

According to the latest IMF report, by November, 124 monetary authorities worldwide are studying or have launched digital currencies, 62 more than last year.

Digital currencies are believed to not only improve transaction transparency but also help reduce dollar reserves.

Another significant de-dollarization event is that European Union countries are also about to officially start comprehensive de-dollarization.

According to a draft released by the European Commission on December 17th, which challenges the US dollar's status globally in 2023, the EU is preparing to test a digital euro and make the euro the default currency for European countries' energy procurement contracts, directly excluding the US dollar.

It also plans to create crude oil futures contracts priced in euros, officially launching a petroeuro.

Subsequently, Germany and France also called for the establishment of a global currency payment system independent of the US dollar.

Even more, there are signs that several European countries, such as Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands, seem to have prepared for a return to the gold standard.

Since last year, Venezuela, with the world's largest proven oil reserves, has required customers to use the country's launched digital oil currency (PETRO), anchored in oil, for oil settlement, and successfully applied it to other economic fields, becoming an alternative financial means to the US dollar.

However, this is not the end of the story.

At the same time, another OPEC oil-producing country, Iran, has signed several barter agreements with Venezuela to trade energy products.

Meanwhile, Iran also plans to issue digital currencies with crude oil, gold, and other resources as physical collateral, hoping that the oil currency can break the dollar blockade.

On December 16th, Iran proposed again to establish a payment system related to digital currencies among Gulf countries.

According to a report by Iran's national television on December 20th, the new progress is that four banks in Iran are currently negotiating with Japan, Germany, France, the UK, Russia, Switzerland, Austria, South Africa, and other countries on the use of digital currencies in energy and financial settlement transactions to bypass the US dollar centralization.

At the same time, the Iranian authorities have listed the renminbi and the euro as the country's main foreign exchange currencies.

According to the latest data from the Iranian Financial Forum, by November, the renminbi share in Iran's foreign reserves has reached 21%.

Vortexa Analytics, a global oil tanker tracker, released data on December 19th showing that China's imports of oil from Iran in November may have set a monthly record of nearly 4.7 million tons.

Since 2022, Chinese buyers have been purchasing 500,000 to 1 million barrels of oil from Iran daily.

According to a preliminary assessment by S&P Global Data on December 20th, within the 24 months ending in November, Iran has at least shipped more than 25 million tons of oil continuously to China.

According to reports, since China's first purchase of Iranian oil in renminbi last year, most of the settlements in the process of purchasing and settling Iranian oil by Chinese buyers have been conducted in renminbi or euros.

This indicates that the renminbi has played the role of an oil currency in the settlement of Iranian oil transactions, also providing other oil-producing countries with another new oil currency option besides the petrodollar.

These new developments all indicate that the market share of the "oil-dollar-treasury" ideal closed-loop system that has been operating for half a century is being shared.

At this critical moment, another US ally country has also begun to de-dollarize, which is unexpected for the US dollar.

On December 20th, the Bank of Japan unexpectedly adjusted the yield curve control plan for Japanese government bonds.

This policy shock will drive funds to flow back to Japan from US Treasury assets, accelerating the sale of US assets, which is equivalent to launching another surprise attack on the US financial market like the Pearl Harbor incident.

This shocked the US financial market, causing the US dollar to plummet and US Treasury yields to soar, with US Treasury bonds being fiercely sold off by investors, including Japan.

Since March of this year, the Japanese authorities have sold up to $240 billion in US Treasury bonds.

Subsequently, the Bank of Japan also announced that it is working with several banks to plan the establishment of a cross-border settlement system that supports digital currency payments and advocates trading with Iran in the oil sector to bypass the US dollar, thereby deterring the US dollar.

As early as November, Japan had already signed several customs cooperation documents in advance with Iran to promote future relations in the fields of customs clearance, financial settlement, and digital currencies, preparing for de-dollarization in the oil settlement field and correspondingly reducing US Treasury reserves.

In this regard, Peter Schiff, a Wall Street prophet and a staunch supporter of the Austrian School of Economics, stated that the US dollar structure based on the petrodollar has already encountered problems, and the phenomenon of the US dollar's status being reset is happening.

At that time, global central banks are expected to peg their currencies to strategic resources such as gold or digital currencies with decentralized functions.

The above new developments in the global "oil-dollar-treasury" field indicate that global central banks are accepting digital currencies, and the last few nails of the petrodollar may be pulled out, especially against the background of several major oil-producing countries, the US economic ally Japan, and Europe, which has the world's second-largest reserve currency, all accelerating de-dollarization.

In this regard, the OMFIF Advisory Committee, a globally renowned think tank, further explained in its latest report published on December 19th that countries like Russia, Iran, Japan, and the EU, by introducing digital currencies supported by strategic resources or their own currencies, have the ability to weaken US dollar centralization.

Therefore, creating a legal digital reserve currency that all global central banks can accept or support is, of course, the latest solution.

This may be the next Pearl Harbor event, which also explains why the Federal Reserve rushed to launch a digital dollar a month ago.