Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated on Wednesday that stablecoins can strengthen the U.S. dollar’s global dominance. He rejected views that cryptocurrencies threaten America’s currency supremacy. This came as former President Trump urged Congress to quickly pass major legislation on stablecoins.
“Crypto is not a threat to the dollar,” Bessent said on Twitter. He called digital assets “one of the most important phenomena in the world right now,” adding that national governments have ignored them for too long.
The remarks followed Trump’s call for the House of Representatives to approve the GENIUS Act after the Senate passed a stablecoin framework on Tuesday. This vote marked a turnaround from last month, when the GENIUS Act failed a procedural vote. At that time, pro-crypto Democrats withdrew support over concerns about national security and conflicts of interest linked to the Trump family.
Bessent criticized the earlier failure, warning that “the world is watching while American lawmakers twiddle their thumbs.” He urged Congress to “step up and lead or watch digital asset innovation move offshore.”
The GENIUS Act aims to create federal rules for issuing and trading stablecoins—digital tokens usually pegged to the U.S. dollar.
In an interview with the New York Post, Bessent explained that stablecoins could become major buyers of U.S. Treasury securities. He gave the example of a person in Nigeria using a dollar-backed stablecoin to make transactions without holding physical dollars.
Bessent said, “There is a very good chance that crypto is actually one of the things that locks in dollar supremacy.” He added that the Biden administration has tried to “make it extinct” instead of supporting innovation.
Industry leaders welcomed the Senate’s approval but acknowledged ongoing political tensions. Ira Auerbach, Head of Tandem at Offchain Labs, told Decrypt that political divisions are causing the crypto market to operate on “best guesses,” which is unsustainable for a rapidly growing industry.
Auerbach emphasized that stablecoins need different legislation than other digital assets like memecoins or trading tokens. He said speculative concerns should not block the development of payment infrastructure.
However, concerns about conflicts of interest remain. Alexander Urbelis, General Counsel at ENS Labs, warned in an interview that the GENIUS Act’s “perceived connection to the Trump family’s private interests” could damage trust in the legislative process. He said this might fuel political theatrics around the risks of crypto.
Urbelis also noted that in an era of “deep fakes” and social media platforms that have dropped fact-checking, conspiracy theories about dollar mismanagement could undermine public trust and have serious global consequences.
