Viewpoint: The GENIUS Act accelerates dollar hegemony, putting non-U.S. economies in a dilemma

The South China Morning Post published a debate. Gary Liu, co-founder of Terminal 3, pointed out that the GENIUS Act will convert 99% of the over $300 billion stablecoin market into a tool for consolidating dollar hegemony, and the window for countries around the world to establish parallel systems is rapidly closing. Liu Xiaochun, an economist at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, characterized stablecoins as casino chips, criticizing Washington for blocking CBDCs while allowing private stablecoins, arguing that this essentially protects the interests of crypto operators rather than promoting monetary innovation.

The demand for stablecoins does indeed exist—people in Turkey, Nigeria, and Argentina use them to hedge against currency depreciation, and the global cross-border remittance market is nearly $1 trillion in size. Previously, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority had reviewed 36 license applications, with a consortium led by HSBC and Standard Chartered, as well as OSL Group, making the cut. However, the peg of the Hong Kong dollar to the US dollar means that a Hong Kong version of stablecoin will ultimately struggle to break free from the US dollar's orbit.