Bloomberg: The expansion of stablecoins may reshape global finance, highlighting the risks of regulatory gaps

According to Bloomberg, the U.S. government is betting that stablecoins issued by private entities like Tether, pegged to the U.S. dollar, will expand to about $3 trillion in the coming years to support the international dominance of the dollar and absorb more demand for U.S. Treasury bonds.

However, the article points out that the current mainstream stablecoin issuers are concentrated in Tether, which has questionable compliance and anti-money laundering practices in its registered location. In the event of a run or smart contract failure, this could impact the large amount of U.S. Treasury assets it holds and disrupt global payments and settlements. The European Central Bank is promoting the use of central bank digital currencies and "tokenized euros" to support atomic settlements, in order to avoid being locked into U.S. private dollar tokens on critical financial infrastructure.