The case for crypto: How the blockchain breathed new life into the dollar

00:00 Speaker A

So we all know that Bitcoin was born in the wreckage of the financial crisis as an alternative to government money.

00:06 Speaker A

No central bank, no political committee, no one with power to print more, freeze your account or quietly destroy your purchasing power.

00:15 Speaker A

The early crypto movement was not subtle about its ambitions. The banks were obsolete, fiat currencies were doomed, the dollar was a melting ice cube and blockchains were going to build an entirely new financial system outside Washington's control.

00:28 Speaker A

Then crypto conquered the world and gave almost everyone a better way to use dollars.

00:35 Speaker A

That is not the ending that the revolutionaries originally had in mind.

00:40 Speaker A

The stable coin market has grown beyond 300 billion and approximately 98% of its value is denominated in United States dollars, not the euro or the yen or the Chinese yuan, the dollar.

00:53 Speaker A

The most successful financial product crypto has created for global use is not a new currency at all. It's an old currency with new and better rails.

01:02 Speaker A

Stable coins take dollars and make them behave like the internet.

01:06 Speaker A

They can move across borders in minutes, they can settle on nights, weekends and holidays.