Executive Summary:
- Crypto Regulations and Dollar Dominance: 2025 could be seen as a year in which the Trump administration aimed to strengthen the dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency through new crypto laws and dollar reserve requirements.
- Challenges: Although the crypto world is plagued by uncertainties, loss of privacy, and extra costs, tokenization with DeFi may change traditional finance.
- 2025 New Rules: The GENIUS and CLARITY acts, along with Executive Order 14178, could reduce uncertainties and encourage innovation. The anti-CBDC law prevents the Fed from directly issuing digital currency, while the “skinny master account” could renew payment systems.
- Future Predictions: As the US positions itself as a “crypto superpower,” stablecoins may counterbalance Bitcoin, while tokenized deposits could gain dominance. However, reduced privacy and rising compliance costs may challenge small players, and dollar-centric evolution could drive rival nations toward alternative strategies.
- INTRODUCTION:
“The dollar may be our currency, but it’s your problem.” – John Connally
This iconic statement, delivered by John Connally to the G10 finance ministers during the Nixon administration, captured the asymmetry at the heart of the global monetary system. While the United States enjoyed the benefits of issuing the world’s reserve currency, other nations bore the costs and constraints of dollar dominance.
More than fifty years later, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde echoed this quote in her 2025 speech in Paris, “Turning Openness into Strength: The Moment of the Euro, ” highlighting that the dollar’s supremacy remains intact, even in a rapidly digitizing world.
Now, with the wave of 2025 crypto regulations, the United States is no longer treating cryptocurrencies as a threat to its monetary order. Instead, it is integrating them into a “dollar- focused” architecture, extending the reach of US Treasury bonds, regulated banks, and American legal norms into the Web3 space.
In a previous article, the momentum that tokenization gained in 2025 was discussed. In this article, we will focus on one of the most important triggers behind this momentum: the legal regulations in the US.
- CONTEXT:
“We will make America the planet’s crypto capital and the world’s Bitcoin superpower.“
– Donald Trump
With President Trump’s return to office, the United States accelerated its efforts to regulate the crypto industry. A cornerstone of the new framework is the requirement that stablecoins be backed by one hundred percent dollar reserves. This rule channels liquidity directly toward US financial assets. In fact, some stablecoin issuers now hold more US Treasury bonds than sovereign nations such as Saudi Arabia and South Korea.
Yet this “dollar-first strategy” is not without challengers:
- European Union: With the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation taking effect in 2025, the EU is prioritizing investor protection and monetary sovereignty.
- China: The e CNY project, China’s digital yuan, is projected to reach up to one trillion dollars in transaction volume, continuing its expansion beyond domestic borders.
- BRICS Countries: This bloc may attempt to develop alternative financial systems to reduce reliance on the dollar, although progress is likely to be gradual.
In summary, the vision described by Trump as a Bitcoin superpower and solidified through legislative action may serve not only to strengthen US leadership in crypto, but also to reinforce the global role of the dollar in the digital financial era.
- CHALLENGE
“Regulatory certainty is essential to solidify our status as the world’s crypto capital.” – Scott Bessent
The United States has introduced comprehensive crypto legislation to eliminate years of regulatory uncertainties, but they bring new challenges. Particularly, high growth rates in tokenization, DePIN, and stablecoin areas could provide insights into both the sector’s direction and the impact of regulations:
Stablecoin reserves are projected to approach 300 billion US dollars, channeling significant capital flows toward dollar-denominated assets. However, the pace of these developments may also introduce new challenges, including intensified competition from global counterparts and emerging market risks.
Competition with Global Alternatives:
- Europe (MiCA): Fully implemented in 2025. , the Markets in Crypto Assets regulation prioritizes investor protection and monetary sovereignty. It offers a structured, institutional response to the United States’ stablecoin focused approach.
- China (e-CNY): By mid-2025, the digital yuan surpassed 7 trillion yuan (approximately 986 billion US dollars) in transaction volume. The initiative is expanding globally with the strategic aim of fostering a multipolar currency order.
- BRICS: The bloc is advancing efforts to promote trade in local currencies, develop gold-linked agreements, and establish blockchain-based payment infrastructures. Nevertheless, progress remains gradual and dependence on the US dollar persists.
Market Risks:
- Fragmented Regulatory Structure and Financial Integration: Jurisdictional overlap between agencies such as the SEC and CFTC, combined with varying regulatory frameworks across all 50 states (most notably New York’s BitLicense), creates a fragmented environment that complicates nationwide operations. Since 2023, crypto compliance and integration costs have jumped by 67 percent, risking the survival of small firms.
- Market Vulnerability and Systemic Risk: Past collapses of stablecoins, bankruptcies of major crypto platforms, and abrupt regulatory actions (particularly by the SEC) have demonstrated the potential for sudden volatility. Such events expose the broader financial system to the risk of contagion.
- Global Sovereignty and Digital Competition: US digital-dollar moves could weaken the monetary sovereignty of developing countries, while China’s e-CNY and Europe’s digital euro projects accelerate efforts to establish an alternative financial order.
In conclusion, by regulating digital assets through a strategic, dollar anchored framework, the United States may not only secure its leadership in the crypto space but also reinforce the global position of the dollar amid intensifying geopolitical and monetary competition.
- ACTION:
“We will do something great with crypto… We will become the global leader.”
– Donald Trump
2025 was an action-packed year for the United States in shaping the future of digital assets. Landmark measures such as the GENIUS Act, the CLARITY Act, and Executive Order 14178 brought much-needed clarity to the crypto sector.
These regulations made digital assets safer and more integrated with the traditional financial system, encouraging innovation and positioning the US as a global leader. However, they also raised compliance costs and sparked concerns over privacy.
- Clarity: The GENIUS Act places stablecoins under a federal framework, while the CLARITY Act brings other assets under CFTC oversight, removing gray areas and easing innovation.
- Security: The 100 percent reserve requirement could enhance trust.
- CBDC Ban: The July 2025 anti-CBDC law could restrict the Fed, encouraging private stablecoins.
- Innovation: ETF approvals and bank integrations could grow the market.
- Protection: AML and reporting rules could prevent fraud.
- Advantage: A crypto-friendly approach could make the US more attractive than Europe and Asia; 2026 tax rules could bring more clarity.
US Federal Reserve Board Member Christopher J. Waller introduced the “skinny master account” concept at the “Payments Innovation Conference” on October 21, 2025. This model, by providing limited access to innovators, holds potential to transform the payment ecosystem.
These moves could show that the US can turn laws from obstacles into a strong competitive advantage.
- PREDICTION & CONCLUSION
“Stablecoins represent a revolution in digital finance… The dollar now has an internet-based payment system.” – Scott Bessent
With its 2025 crypto-friendly policies, the US is rapidly advancing toward becoming a “crypto superpower,” signaling moves that could fundamentally change global finance. The dollar’s protective role could dominate crypto markets through stablecoins, weakening other currencies. For example, reserve requirements could draw liquidity to the US, reinforcing economic strength.
- Stablecoin vs. Bitcoin: The dollar-focused growth of stablecoins could balance Bitcoin’s volatility and affect market dominance. However, stablecoins could face limitations related to deposit insurance, interest payments, and central bank access.
- Rise of Tokenized Deposits: Tokenized programmable deposits and money market funds offered by large banks could gain an advantage over stablecoins. Both scenarios could increase the dollar’s impact.
- Side Effects: Reduced privacy and costs could challenge small players; with tax guidelines and deeper integration, the US could maintain its strength.
In conclusion, the changing rules in 2025 could accelerate the dollar-centered evolution of global finance, forcing rivals into new strategies.
In the next parts of this series, regulations in other countries and new finance business models coulld be covered.
See you in the next article.
Sources:
- Christine Lagarde: Turning openness into strength – the moment of the euro
(https://www.bis.org/review/r251008f.htm) - Akıllı Varlıklar Çağı: Yeni Finans Mimarisinde Trendler, Riskler ve Yön
(https://fintechistanbul.org/2025/11/06/akilli-varliklar-cagi-yeni-finans-mimarisinde-trendler-riskler-ve-yon/https://fintechistanbul.org/2025/11/06/akilli-varliklar-cagi-yeni-finans-mimarisinde-trendler-riskler-ve-yon) - Christopher J Waller: Embracing new technologies and players in payments
(https://www.bis.org/review/r251030f.htm) - Crypto, tokenisation, and the future of payments (https://cepr.org/publications/policy-insight-146-crypto-tokenisation-and-future-payments )
