Stablecoins are not just the future of finance—they’re the key to maintaining the U.S. dollar as the world’s leading reserve currency. Once viewed as a tool exclusively for crypto asset trading, stablecoins are redefining global finance by unlocking financial well-being and freedom for a growing, global user base.   

As stablecoin use cases expand beyond facilitating crypto trading to supporting cross-border payments, trade settlement, remittances, payroll, and even enabling access to high-yield financial products—they create new opportunities for users to interact with U.S. dollars, digitally. What was once viewed as a niche financial tool, stablecoins are gradually opening up new, non-crypto-related economic opportunities for users in far-away markets through increased access to dollar-denominated digital payment rails.  

What Are Stablecoins?  

While there is no universally agreed legal or regulatory definition of stablecoin, a ‘stablecoin’ is generally viewed as a type of digital asset that aims to maintain a stable value relative to a specified asset, or a pool or basket of assets. Currently, there are more than $170 billion worth of stablecoins are in circulation today, and a whopping 98 percent of those are linked to the U.S. dollar. Unlike other cryptocurrencies, stablecoins offer price stability, making them an appealing alternative to traditional financial systems. But beyond their importance in protecting crypto asset traders from wild price swings in the underlying cryptocurrency, the utility of stablecoins is increasingly evolving to meet growing demand and preference, particularly from emerging markets, for dollar-denominated financial services.   

Why This Matters  

One of the defining characteristics of stablecoins is their borderless nature. The ability to enable faster, cheaper, and more inclusive financial transactions and services make stablecoins an indispensable tool for the millions of people underserved by traditional financial markets. Given user preference for dollar-denominated financial services, USD-linked stablecoins are a critical tool to extend the global dominance of the U.S. dollar, expand dollar access to new markets, and protect our national security interests at a time of heightened geopolitical instability. As the stablecoin market expands, U.S. policymakers have a unique opportunity to strengthen the dollar’s position on the global stage, extend U.S. financial influence, and protect against the development and scaling of adversarial payment systems.  

The Urgent Need for Stablecoin Policies  

Despite the promise of USD-linked stablecoins, the U.S. has yet to implement a regulatory framework that fully capitalizes on this opportunity. This regulatory gap could leave an open door for other countries to develop their own stablecoin frameworks, potentially diminishing the dollar’s influence in the process.  

Lawmakers must act now to ensure the U.S. remains at the forefront of this digital financial revolution. In our new report, How Stablecoins are Extending U.S. Dollar Dominance: A Policymaker’s Guide to Action, we provide policy recommendations that can help guide U.S. lawmakers in creating a comprehensive framework to secure the dollar’s influence and leadership in the digital age.  

The time for action is now.