The Cold War accidentally created a trillion-dollar market no government controls

In the 1950s, the Soviet Union worried the US might freeze its dollar holdings, so it moved its dollars into banks in Europe instead of America. Those dollar deposits, held and lent outside the US banking system, became the first 'Eurodollars' — the start of a vast, largely unregulated offshore dollar market that still moves trillions today.

— Catherine R. Schenk, The Origins of the Eurodollar Market in London, 1955-1963 — Explorations in Economic History, 1998