#USStablecoinBill

The US Congress may soon adopt legislation to regulate stablecoins—digital tokens pegged to the US dollar. Although used today primarily to trade other crypto assets, stablecoins could become a widely used payment instrument, which would drive valuable innovation and competition. David Sacks, the Trump administration’s crypto “czar,” has predicted that stablecoins could also “ensure American dollar dominance internationally” and generate “trillions of dollars of demand for US Treasuries.” Stablecoin critics, in contrast, argue that legislation would legitimize a product that is widely used for money laundering and sanctions evasion while fueling crypto speculation and scams.

We have each advised or chaired executive branch agencies involved in digital asset policy and co-authored articles about why and how to regulate stablecoins. One of us testified before Congress in February about the pending legislation. We share concerns about the illicit use of stablecoins and the speculative nature of much of the crypto market. But stablecoin legislation is likely to be enacted this year: the Trump administration prioritized the issue in its digital assets executive order three days after the inauguration; Republican leaders in the Senate and House, together with Sacks, promised to pass stablecoin legislation within the administration’s first one hundred days; and bills have been passed out of both House and Senate committees. Therefore, the focus now should be on how best to regulate stablecoins, not whether to do so. 

Stablecoins, moreover, already exist—the market capitalization is now over $230 billion and growing rapidly, almost all in dollar-pegged stablecoins. If the United States does not create a credible regulatory framework, the risks associated with stablecoins will only increase. In addition, the United States will lose the ability to set standards for liabilities denominated in its own currency because other jurisdictions are rapidly creating frameworks that permit dollar-based stablecoins.