25 Even in cases as extreme as markets for homogeneous goods, such as the oil market, where network effects are believed to be so strong as to naturally lead to the dominance of one settlement currency, multiple currencies were used in the past. European oil import settlements around World War II, for instance, were split evenly between the dollar and non-dollar currencies, mainly sterling.
26 But, from a normative standpoint, is a possible evolution towards multi-polarity desirable? Some view it with concern. 27 They fear that a multipolar currency system would increase global financial instability.