Stablecoins: is this crypto's big bang moment?

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Money Talks from The Economist

2025-08-08

46 分钟
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For years, Wall Street has been stuffed with crypto sceptics, who couldn't see the point in digital assets. But now, even the most straight-laced parts of traditional finance are starting to see new use cases. Last month, President Trump signed into law the GENIUS Act, which signals a new era for one type of cryptocurrency in particular: stablecoins. It's easy to see how these tokens backed by other assets, usually the dollar, could make transactions simpler. But it's also easy to see how they could pose a threat to the stability of the financial system as we know it. Hosts: Mike Bird, Ethan Wu and Alice Fulwood. Guests: Sandy Kaul, head of innovation at Franklin Templeton; and Johann Kerbrat of Robinhood. Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts. Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.
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  • The Economist.

  • Wall Street hasn't always taken crypto particularly seriously.

  • A decentralized digital currency, invented by a fictitious person named Satoshi Nakamoto,

  • does this just show how much of a lack of confidence there is in currencies and banks,

  • because this sounds a little strange.

  • And that incredulity came from the top.

  • JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon was a particularly vocal critic.

  • The only value of a Bitcoins with the other guy will pay for it.

  • So every day, you know, you have CNBC, non-stop Bitcoin.

  • Who cares about Bitcoin?

  • The argument against crypto has largely taken a familiar form.

  • The Satoshi Nakamoto white paper came out in 2008, and since then,

  • I don't believe anyone has made a good argument for like crypto having a use case

  • unless you're a money launderer, then it's very good.

  • But cryptocurrencies may have finally found their use case.

  • Stablecoins, digital tokens that are pegged one-to-one with a real-world asset like the dollar.

  • Even Jamie Dimon has said he believes in stablecoins, as does another man.

  • But today's signing the future of crypto and the crypto industry,

  • the US dollar working together

  • because they really are hand-in-hand is going to be stronger and bigger and better than ever before.