The death of soft settlement Why the next reserve standard won’t be a new retail currency—just a better way to finish the biggest deals. The global financial system is discovering a hard truth: settlement is only as strong as the politics underneath it. For decades, the world cleared its largest obligations—energy cargoes, sovereign netting, defense procurement, infrastructure finance—on a “trust us” basis. Trust the institutions to reconcile. Trust the leaders to honor commitments. Trust tha...

The death of soft settlement Why the next reserve standard won’t be a new retail currency—just a better way to finish the biggest deals. The global financial system is discovering a hard truth: settlement is only as strong as the politics underneath it. For decades, the world cleared its largest obligations—energy cargoes, sovereign netting, defense procurement, infrastructure finance—on a “trust us” basis. Trust the institutions to reconcile. Trust the leaders to honor commitments. Trust tha...