The United States has passed legislation to protect and support the mining and trading of crypto assets, even making it a national strategic reserve, supporting the legal operation of USD stablecoins, actively seizing the high ground in the crypto assets and stablecoin field, enhancing the demand for US Treasury bonds and the international influence of the US dollar, which has significant and far-reaching strategic significance. China needs to fully recognize and actively respond to this.
The Emergence and Accelerated Development of USD Stablecoins
In early 2009, Bit and its blockchain were officially launched, but due to the inability to exchange with legal tender and lack of application scenarios, it did not have much social impact. On May 22, 2010, someone in the United States bought two pizzas worth $25 with 10,000 Bits, becoming the first exchange of Bit with legal tender, with a rate of only 0.0025 USD per Bit.
On the Bit blockchain foundation, ETH and Ethereum blockchain emerged in 2013, focusing on improving operational efficiency by changing the "Proof of Work" method involving all nodes to a "Proof of Stake" method involving fewer nodes, and adding smart contract functionality. They also introduced the ERC20 protocol standard and a new coin issuance model, driving the development of ICO transactions raising Bit or ETH, creating application scenarios for Bit and ETH, and promoting their price increase and social influence.
Bit, ETH, and others are blockchain native crypto assets, while those issued through ICO are derivative crypto assets (with more securities asset attributes). Although issuers label them as "crypto currencies," they are not entirely the same. "Crypto currency" advocates hope and promote that they can subvert or replace existing national legal (sovereign) currencies, but becauseBit, ETH, and others have their total volume and periodic new increments completely locked by the system, unable to change with the value of tradable wealth, and their prices are highly volatile, which does not meet the essential requirement of currency as a value measure that must be basically stable, they cannot become true currencies(This is also the fundamental reason why gold must exit the monetary stage and return to its original tradable wealth, and why currency must detach from any limited supply of specific physical objects, transforming into a pure wealth value measurement unit and transferable value token, called "credit currency").Their value can only be ultimately realized through exchange with legal tender. Therefore, Bit, ETH, and others can only be a new type of asset, unable to subvert or replace legal tender.
However, crypto assets like Bit, as long as their legal existence is acknowledged, can completely develop spot (immediate, forward) and more derivative transactions such as futures, options, ETF, ETP, just like gold, anddue to their nature as borderless online chain-generated assets, they naturally possess the characteristic of online global 7x24 hour continuous trading.
However, traditional legal tender payment and clearing systems cannot meet the demand for online global 7x24 hour continuous trading. The development of crypto asset trading needs to build a bridge connecting crypto assets and legal tender. Thus, USDT was pioneered - a USD stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, using blockchain technology, capable of global 7x24 hour operation through public internet.
USDT is the abbreviation of "Tether USD" issued by Tether, backed by full US dollar cash, deposits, or highly liquid assets (such as US Treasury bonds). Tether Company was a private investment Realcoin company registered in the Isle of Man and Hong Kong in 2013, renamed in November 2014, and simultaneously released the USDT white paper.In February 2015, USDT issued globally by Tether went online on crypto asset trading platforms Bitfinex and Poloniex, with actual operations in Hong Kong.Subsequently, it went online on more crypto asset trading platforms, enabling online global 7x24 hour trading and payment clearing, running for over 10 years now.
[The translation continues in the same manner for the rest of the text, following the specified translation rules.]The most important thing is to prevent the over-issuance of stablecoins. Stablecoins must have sufficient fiat asset reserves (which will correspondingly freeze the liquidity of fiat assets), and be custodied by independent institutions. They must not be under-collected, misappropriated, or used for collateral, and need to undergo audits and publish monthly reports at minimum. Stablecoins can only be generated through fiat asset exchange, with no credit lending by stablecoin issuers, and no interest payments to stablecoin holders, thereby preventing over-issuance and impacting fiat currency management, ensuring stablecoins truly become tokens pegged to currencies while maintaining equivalence.
This will further highlight the payment and settlement function of stablecoins while significantly weakening their investment return function. Regulated fiat stablecoins must be licensed and can only be centralized (nationalized and must meet unified regulatory requirements), and cannot remain decentralized and independent (consequently, stablecoins registered outside the US, such as USDT, may face significant regulatory risks, unless they quickly relocate their registration to within the US). Fiat stablecoins might even be replaced by unified national digital currencies (potentially being just a transitional special product).
Therefore, implementing fiat stablecoin regulation is not the success of decentralized currency or finance (DeFi), but the success of national sovereignty and a new monetary payment settlement technology and operational model. Simultaneously, multi-national regulated fiat stablecoins will inevitably strengthen competition, requiring enhanced regulation of cryptocurrency trading platforms alongside stablecoin oversight, and necessitating international collaboration to promote regulatory standard development and implementation.
Currently, US dollar stablecoins dominate the global fiat stablecoin landscape, with rapid market value growth. By the end of April 2025, US dollar stablecoin market value exceeded $240 billion, accounting for over 99% of global fiat stablecoins. In 2024, stablecoin settlement volume surpassed $27.6 trillion, already exceeding Visa and Mastercard's scale. In 2025, development is accelerating, driving economic activities and payment settlements towards a new distributed ledger system.
The US, through legislation protecting and supporting cryptocurrency mining and trading, even potentially making it a national strategic reserve, supports USDT and USDC legal operations, actively seizing the cryptocurrency and stablecoin domain (potentially developing into an emerging field with significant international influence, replacing the original petroleum energy sector), enhancing US Treasury bond demand and dollar international influence, carries profound strategic significance (Hong Kong's legislation refers to "fiat stablecoins" anchored to legal tender like Hong Kong or US dollars. Considering Hong Kong's dollar is pegged to the US dollar, Hong Kong stablecoin introduction would still positively impact the US dollar's international status). Other countries, especially China, must pay full attention and respond proactively!
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