The US dollar lost 10.41% of its value during this year. A significant drop for the main world reserve currency, in a context of economic tensions and loss of confidence. At the same time, gold and silver recorded spectacular increases, once again becoming fallback assets. This movement reflects a change in balance on the markets, where the role of the dollar as a safe haven seems increasingly to be called into question.
In brief
- The US dollar lost 10.41% of its value in 2025, a historic decline for the world's leading reserve currency.
- This depreciation is accompanied by a spectacular surge in precious metals: +65.32% for gold, +147.97% for silver.
- The loss of confidence in American governance is pushing investors to turn away from the dollar as a safe haven asset.
- Precious metals are now taking on a hedging role that the greenback once fulfilled.
The fall of the dollar: a year under high tension
The US dollar, long considered the safe haven par excellence, has lost 10.41% of its value since the start of the year, while many observers believe that the hegemony of the dollar is coming to an end.
This decline, measured by the DXY index, reflects a depreciation against a basket of major currencies, including the euro, the yen and the pound sterling. In a context of global economic uncertainties, this spectacular decline contrasts with the historically defensive role of the greenback. At the same time, two traditional safe haven assets have exploded.
Here are the important facts :
This double dynamic, the collapse of the dollar and the surge in precious metals, has not gone unnoticed by economic analysts. Among them, Tyler Cowen, economist and professor, underlines in a forum that this rush for precious metals constitutes a “immediate warning signal for the economy”.
“The rush to precious metals should worry us all. It reflects a new, potentially disastrous danger on the horizon“, he warns. For Cowen, investors are no longer just looking for performance. They are fleeing growing instability and seeking protection.
A crisis of confidence and the wavering role of the dollar as a safe haven asset
According to Cowen, the fall of the dollar cannot be understood without taking into account the loss of institutional credibility of the United States. He says it's not just economic fundamentals that are the problem, but the political unpredictability that surrounds American governance.
“If the U.S. government and policies are themselves a source of instability, and its economy is volatile, then you will seek other protections», he writes. He adds that “chaos in the United States, particularly at the White House, is pushing investors to find alternatives to the dollar“.
Cowen also highlights a major structural point: the global economy is becoming more correlated, meaning there are now fewer sources of diversification for investors in a crisis.
In the past, the dollar played the role of a countercyclical asset, capable of withstanding global shocks. Today, this function seems to be migrating to precious metals. “Precious metals take on the role of protection and hedging that the dollar once fulfilled“, he asserts, suggesting that the hegemony of the greenback as a safe haven asset may be crumbling.
In this context of global readjustment, the BRICS are strengthening their position by promoting alternatives to the dollar, thus accentuating the fragmentation of the international monetary system.
Putin formalized the fall of the dollar in Sino-Russian trade, marking a strategic turning point. This gesture thus illustrates the decline of the greenback on the international scene.
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