U.S. Treasury Says U.S. ‘Will Win in the Digital Asset Stack’ as Clarity Act Stalls

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that American leadership in digital assets could reinforce the dollar’s global position, even as Congress has stalled on the market-structure legislation meant to govern them.

Speaking at Ripple’s Swell conference in New York with CEO Brad Garlinghouse, Bessent argued that the foundations of reserve-currency power are shifting. For much of modern history, he said, the dollar’s dominance rested largely on military strength. 

“We will keep our military umbrella, but increasingly, it becomes a technological umbrella,” he said. 

He grouped digital assets with artificial intelligence and semiconductors as areas where the United States and China are competing to build dominant infrastructure, and suggested the financial rails countries choose will shape the dollar’s reach.

The most concrete link he drew runs through stablecoins, dollar-pegged tokens whose issuers typically hold reserves that include U.S. Treasury securities. Bessent said stablecoins could give people in countries with high inflation or volatile currencies easier access to dollars. 

CoinGecko data puts the share of stablecoins denominated in dollars above 98%, with Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC the largest. Bessent himself put the figure above 90%. The exact number differs, but the dollar clearly dominates the category.