After World War II, due to the Marshall Plan of American aid to Europe, and after reconstruction, the United States became the largest export market in Europe, a large number of dollar deposits flowed to Europe. As a result, a large number of dollar deposits are deposited in banks outside the United States. At the same time, some countries, including the Soviet Union, also deposited some of their US dollar deposits in American banks.

During the Cold War, especially after 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary, the Soviet government was worried that the United States would freeze its dollar deposits in North American banks. At this time, a British bank told the Soviet government that they could receive their dollar deposits outside the United States, and then they deposited them in American banks. In this way, it is impossible for the United States to freeze its accounts, because the deposits at this time belong to British banks, not to accounts under the name of the Soviet government. This operation is considered to be the first use of the term "Eurodollar".

Later, due to the persistent trade deficit of the United States, "Eurodollar" gradually spread to the whole world.