by Kenneth Schortgen, Shotgun Economics:

While the sanction war America started against Russia in 2013 appears to have opened the door to de-dollarization, Washington’s latest gambit towards Iran seems to have fully opened the floodgates.  And that is because the latest country to willingly accept trade outside the dollar just happens to be a long-standing ally of the U.S..

South Korea and Iran have agreed to switch to national currencies in trade exchanges as the sides aim to strengthen relations despite the US sanctions on Tehran.

The agreement is of great importance to both countries, Yonhap News Agency reported, explaining that the deal indicated Korea’s concerns about relations with Iran. The countries also agreed to make payments and settle their financial and banking accounts using the South Korean national currency, the won. That will allow South Korean and Iranian companies to continue their extensive exchanges in various fields.The volume of bilateral trade surpassed the $12-billion benchmark last year, according to Iran’s ambassador to Seoul Saeid Badamchi Shabestari, who told Press TV that the Iranian and Korean economies complement one another. – Russia Today

The world has progressed to the point where it no longer needs a singular point medium of exchange as it did following World War II when the dollar was by far the strongest currency available.  And ironically by having to use the dollar as a middleman between nations when it comes to trade, it actually stifles the process by affecting the value of each nation’s currency since the world is no longer on a gold standard.

Perhaps it should not be surprising that South Korea is now joining in with the likes of Japan (bi-lateral trade with China) and the EU when it comes to the growing movement to conduct trade outside of a reserve currency.

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