The United States is expanding its influence over the US$4 trillion global cryptocurrency industry amid favourable regulation under the Trump administration and the growing use of US dollar-backed stablecoins, according to participants at this year’s Token2049 event in Singapore.
The US is on a path to becoming the world’s “crypto capital”, said Bo Hines, the former executive director of the White House’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, at a fireside chat on Thursday to conclude the two-day Token2049, the world’s largest crypto conference.
Hines, 30, is known for helping craft the US Genius Act, legislation that aims to create a comprehensive regulatory framework for stablecoins, which US President Donald Trump signed into law on July 18. He recently joined Tether Holdings, issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, as CEO of its US business.
The US was “finally at a place in which we can welcome home a lot of the goods that have gone offshore” and set “a standard for the rest of the world in terms of how these technical creations can actually be integrated into the traditional financial system”, Hines said.
Tether, according to Hines, was “the most important company in the crypto ecosystem”. He added: “If you want to be in the crypto capital world, you must have the most important players in the space onshore.”
His assessment reflects the state of the world’s stablecoin market, dominated by Tether’s US dollar-backed USDT token with a market value of US$172 billion.
