Is there any other country with both the court system and wealth required to back up being the global reserve currency? I don't think there is and I don't see a viable contender showing up in the near future.
Additionally: shortage of confidence in the US Courts isn't a new thing. The reality of the US Courts system is: Money wins, and its been like this for the entire life of essentially all Americans alive today. This is, actually, rather convenient and good if you take the view that faith in the US courts system is a critical component of the US Dollar's global reserve status. If money controls the courts, and courts support the money, that's a pretty nice virtuous cycle. But, for the People; its been hit-or-miss for a long, long time.
Pricing at international scale becomes a lot more complicated without a singular global reserve currency.
The world doesn't need it, but unless Americans want to see their purchasing power destroyed, they do.
But that doesn’t mean confidence in the dollar can’t die anyway before an alternative is found. Straight up chaos and collapse is a hopefully remote but real possibility.
Remember how the 2008 crisis was stopped? Strong messages from reserve banks that they’ll backstop and people believing them. That trick doesn’t work in the world author it’s describing.
I assume British courts can enforce contracts that deal in dollars.
BRICS might have the wealth. Would you trust that it's going to be legally stable? I wouldn't.
But, in fairness, for the first time in my life I don't trust the US in that way either. I'm beginning to see it as possible that someday the president could make some arbitrary decision that takes everything I have. (Either this president or another - but it's this president who's making the precedents that make it possible.)