US Aims to Turn Stablecoins Into a Weapon for Dollar Dominance

In brief

• The Trump administration is reportedly weighing joint ventures with private firms to push dollar-pegged stablecoins into foreign markets, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
• The effort could involve the Treasury Department, the State Department, and the U.S. International Development Finance Corp., which is run by Ben Black, son of Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black.
• Stablecoin issuers already hold close to $200 billion in Treasury bills, a figure the plan is designed to grow as other countries build their own digital payment rails.

Washington wants the rest of the world running on digital dollars. Now it's reportedly willing to go into business to make that happen.

The Donald Trump administration is considering an initiative to promote dollar-backed stablecoins overseas, according to a Bloomberg report Wednesday, citing people familiar with the plans.

Stablecoins are crypto tokens built to hold a steady 1:1 value with a currency, typically by keeping the equivalent amount in cash and short-term government debt in reserve.

The idea is to reinforce the dollar's status as the world's reserve asset by creating joint ventures between the U.S. government and private-sector firms. The people familiar with the plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the goal is twofold: keep foreign users hooked on dollars, and generate fresh buyers for U.S. Treasuries.