Sanctions Are Destroying U.S. Dollar's Status as World's Top Currency On 4/5/21 at 11:00 AM EDT Newsweek. The greenback stands in a class of its own as the most popular and robust currency across the international banking system, outsizing its next largest competitor, the euro, a by a factor of nearly three to one. When it comes to currencies, the dollar is by far the world's safest best. But this could be changing. The continual use of sanctions to pressure countries and companies perceived to be acting against U.S. interests may also be weakening the dollar's global position. "It's certainly not an imminent threat to the dominance of the dollar, but it's by far the biggest one," Benn Steil, senior fellow and director of international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations, told