How the U.S. Government Can Protect the Dollar Through Stablecoins

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In this episode, Laura Shin speaks with former CFTC chairman Chris Giancarlo and former CFTC chief innovation officer Daniel Gorfine on the pressing need for the U.S. to safeguard the dollar. They explain why they believe the future of regulation is the government operating nodes on blockchains rather than regulating intermediaries, why even private USD stablecoins will want a USD central bank digital currency, and how China might export the technology behind the digital yuan—and its surveillance capabilities—to other countries. They also touch on how the upcoming U.S. elections could influence crypto policy, why stablecoins are more than just trading instruments, and what the U.S. must do to maintain its financial leadership.

Show highlights:

• How governments should embrace blockchain technology to become better at its job, according to Chris
• How the financial system needs to change for the younger generations
• Whether the U.S. is losing ground in terms of innovation
• Why Daniel thinks stablecoins are much more than a trading instrument for crypto
• Why Daniel believes that the U.S. is making the regulation of stablecoins “far more complicated than it needs to be”
• How Singapore is already giving licenses to USD stablecoin issuers
• Whether the dollar should be trademarked to protect it
• How Tether has become one of the most profitable companies per employee in history without being under U.S. jurisdiction
• Who should be the next chair of the SEC and the need to regulate DeFi in order for it to become mainstream
• Why Daniel thinks that some of the criticism of the FIT21 bill “doesn’t hold water”
• Why Chris believes that China is lying about not intending to export the technology behind the digital yuan
• Whether algorithmic stablecoins should be banned, as proposed in the Lummis-Gillibrand bill

First Bits + Bips episode: Bits + Bips: Does Macroeconomics Point to a Potential Crypto Supercycle?

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Polkadot
• VaultCraft

Guests:

• Chris Giancarlo, Former Chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, author of CryptoDad
  • Forbes: ‘Elizabeth Warren’s Anti-Crypto Wing Is A Shrinking Iceberg’, Says Former Top Regulator
  • FoxBusiness Interview: Elizabeth Warren and others have declared war on cryptocurrency: Chris Giancarlo
  • Op-ed in the FT Banking Risk & Regulation: Can CBDCs be made safe for democracy?
• Daniel Gorfine, Founder & CEO of boutique advisory firm Gattaca Horizons, former Chief Innovation Officer at the U.S. CFTC, and adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center
  • Opinion: Stablecoin and other digital assets are falsely framed as a choice between personal privacy and national security. We can have both. – MarketWatch
  • Building digital infrastructure for the future of finance

Links

Stablecoins:

• Stablecoins Are Defense Tech by Morgan Beller
• Unchained:
  • Opinion: Regulated Dollar Stablecoins Created by a Proposed New Senate Bill Would be Crypto’s Ultimate Trojan Horse 
  • Tether’s Record $4.5 Billion Q1 Profit Highlights Its Dominance of the Stablecoin Industry

SAB 121

• Unchained: President Biden Vetoes SAB121 Repeal

FIT21

• Unchained: FIT21 Bill Heads to The Senate: Should We Really Be Excited?

Spot Ether ETFs

• Unchained: Analysts Up Odds of Spot Ether ETF to 75% as Prometheum Launches Product That Treats ETH as a Security