ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Triffin dilemma

Alrighty kiddo, let me explain the Triffin Dilemma to you like you are five years old.

So, let's say you have a piggy bank where you collect all your pocket money. As you grow older, you will start earning more pocket money, and your piggy bank will get heavier.

Now, imagine that your piggy bank is like the US dollar. The US dollar is the most important currency in the world and is used in many countries. Just like your piggy bank, other countries also collect US dollars to use as their savings.

This is where the Triffin Dilemma comes in. You see, the more US dollars are used in other countries, the more they are needed as a reserve currency. But in order for this to happen, the US has to constantly print and distribute more dollars.

This means that the US has to keep its piggy bank heavy to satisfy the other countries using their currency. But when the US prints more money, it makes each individual dollar worth a little bit less.

So, if the US wants to keep their piggy bank heavy, they have to keep printing more money. But if they do that, the value of each dollar goes down, which can cause problems in the long run.

Basically, the Triffin Dilemma is a problem where the US has to keep printing money to keep its currency in demand, but by doing so, they may decrease the value of the dollar. It's a bit of a tricky situation, kinda like trying to juggle too many balls at once!