Matt Hougan, Bitwise’s Chief Investment Officer (CIO), has said some very important things. He thinks that the US passing full stablecoin rules could be a turning point for the cryptocurrency industry’s acceptance by the public.
The launch of bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. epitomizes this transition, but it’s not the only road marker. Others include BlackRock launching a tokenized Treasury fund on the Ethereum blockchain, Europe passing comprehensive crypto legislation, Ray Dalio calling on investors to own “non-debt money” like bitcoin, and more.
Matt Hougan, Bitwise CIO
Through a letter sent to Bitwise clients, Hougan said that stablecoin rules might have a bigger impact than the much-anticipated approval of spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Hougan discussed a few important signs that the U.S. Congress is getting closer to putting out rules for coins backed by real money. Both parties support the Lummis-Gillibrand Payment Stablecoin Act, which was just filed in the Senate. However, some people in the business are worried about how it will affect free speech, especially the part that says automated stablecoins are not allowed.
Bitwise CIO’s Insight Progress in Stablecoin Regulation Talks
Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, recently said that she and Patrick McHenry, the committee’s head, had made a lot of progress in their talks about regulating stablecoins.
Waters said that many committee members, including well-known people like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Banking Chairman Sherrod Brown, are somewhat in favor of the policy changes that have been proposed. This is true even though Brown has said bad things about cryptocurrencies.
It has been said publicly that Chris Waller, Jerome Powell, Chris Waller, and Janet Yellen, the U.S. Treasury Secretary, all support stablecoins. Washington now has a different view of this part of the bitcoin market.
Hougan said three important things caused this change in the story. First, using stablecoins backed by the dollar could strengthen the USD worldwide by letting more people use the currency investors want so badly. Stablecoin issuers are already some of the biggest independent owners of U.S. Treasuries, so new laws could also make more people want to buy them.
Also, banks and other well-known companies could compete with Tether, which makes the most stablecoins, if they could join the normal banking system. Even though Tether didn’t have as many employees as big banks like Goldman Sachs, it made a lot of money last year. Because of this, S&P analysts agreed that stablecoins’ clear rules could make a big difference in the bitcoin world.
Hougan made these points that show how the rules for stablecoins are changing. They say that changes to the laws in this area might be more important than letting Bitcoin ETFs work. In the US, this could start a new era of popular use of cryptocurrencies.
