Trump's Game?
The Quiet Coup: How Stablecoins Are Redrawing the Map of U.S. Power
For years, the architecture of American financial power has rested on a simple arrangement: the United States issues debt, and the world buys it. This arrangement, underwritten by trust in the dollar and the perceived stability of U.S. institutions, has financed wars, social programs, stimulus packages, and foreign policy ambitions for generations.
But what happens when the world’s largest creditor, the Chinese state, begins to step away? What replaces it? And who, or what, takes its place?
The answer may not be a government at all. It may be a token.
In the shadow of geopolitical friction and posturing, the U.S. dollar is quietly undergoing one of the most radical transformations in its history, not by the hand of the Treasury or the Federal Reserve, but through a digital financial instrument most people have never directly used: the stablecoin.
At the center of this shift is Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin, which has emerged not merely as a tool for traders or crypto enthusiasts, but as a de facto vector of U.S. monetary influence. In 2024, Tether generated over $13 billion in profit, primarily through interest accrued from holdings in short-term U.S. Treasury bills. In practical terms, it is now the seventh-largest buyer of U.S. debt—a status that places it above many traditional American allies.
That may sound technical. It isn’t. Tether is not a sovereign state. It is not a central bank. It is a private entity issuing digital dollars on a blockchain units that can be bought, traded, or stored in a mobile phone app anywhere from Buenos Aires to Beirut. It does not seek permission from central banks or coordinate with ministries of finance. Yet it channels capital into the U.S. economy with ruthless efficiency, and its users—largely unbanked individuals in the Global South are increasingly becoming the new creditors of the United States.
This is more than a financial innovation. It is a reconfiguration of power.
The Erosion of the Old Model
To understand the stakes, one must look back. Since the postwar era, U.S. economic influence has hinged on its control over two levers: the global role of the dollar, and the appetite for American debt.
When Richard Nixon severed the dollar’s link to gold in 1971, what replaced it was confidence, confidence that the U.S. would maintain economic discipline, that it would not default, and that the dollar would remain liquid and globally trusted. China, flush with export surpluses in the early 2000s, became the chief enabler of this system. For a time, it worked.
But those days are fading. China’s holdings of U.S. Treasuries have been in steady decline, dipping below $800 billion by the end of 2024. Beijing’s strategy has shifted: fewer bonds, more influence. Its Belt and Road Initiative is a direct challenge to Western-style financial diplomacy. Its push for the digital yuan is a long play to reduce global reliance on the greenback. Even in the Western Hemisphere, America’s supposed backyard, China has spent lavishly on physical symbols of presence, like El Salvador’s $55 million national library.
The message is clear: Beijing is not just decoupling from U.S. debt; it is offering a rival economic narrative.
A Digital Detour to Dollar Supremacy
Tether offers Washington a way to fight back, whether it realizes it or not.
With a market capitalization exceeding $150 billion and growing influence in the dollarized economies of Latin America, Africa, and parts of Asia, Tether has become a quiet vehicle for U.S. dollar proliferation. But unlike the dollar diplomacy of the 20th century, this one requires no ambassadors, no IMF conditionality, and no SWIFT networks. Just a smartphone and a QR code.
The implications are staggering. As Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s CEO, put it, if 3.6 billion people each hold $10,000 in USDT (Tether’s token), the entire U.S. national debt could, in theory, be decentralized into the hands of individuals. That isn’t just poetic, it’s mathematically sound.
And Washington seems to be catching on. Congress recently advanced bipartisan stablecoin legislation that would require tokens like Tether to be backed 1:1 with U.S. dollars or Treasury bills. The logic is simple: if stablecoins are going to thrive, let them do so in a way that strengthens U.S. fiscal stability.
This is financial plumbing and policy by proxy.
The Trump Family’s Digital Dollar
Into this moment steps the Trump family.
In March 2025, reports surfaced that the Trumps, through a firm called World Liberty Financial, are preparing to launch USD1, a dollar-backed stablecoin designed for global use. Some will dismiss it as branding opportunism. Others will see it as a harbinger.
Trump understands, perhaps better than many bureaucrats, that political power can be projected through architecture, branding, and access. In the 1980s, it was gold elevators and skyscrapers. In 2025, it may be mobile wallets filled with digital dollars bearing his name.
A New Economic Doctrine
The future of U.S. financial strategy may not lie in imposing sanctions or controlling interest rates. It may lie in making the dollar omnipresent, as a digital, portable, programmable asset, untethered from banks and nation-states.
To be clear, this future is not without risk. Private actors issuing monetary instruments is not an idea most central bankers welcome. Stablecoins raise real concerns: counterparty risk, reserve transparency, and the potential for systemic disruption.
But in a world where China seeks to underwrite its own monetary order, and where traditional demand for Treasuries is thinning, stablecoins may be less a threat than a necessity.
If the dollar is to remain the axis of global finance, it must evolve. And it may do so not from Capitol Hill or the Fed, but from code, networks, and the unbanked billions who still trust the dollar more than they trust their own governments.
In that light, Tether, USD1, and the coming wave of regulated stablecoins are not sideshows. They are the main stage.
References
US Debt Held by China (2024)
“Which Countries Own the Most U.S. Debt?”
USAFacts, updated 2024
🔗 https://usafacts.org/articles/which-countries-own-the-most-us-debt/
Tether’s 2024 Profit and Treasury Holdings
“Tether Hits $13 Billion Profits for 2024 and All-Time Highs in U.S. Treasury Holdings”
Tether.io, Q4 2024 Financial Attestation
🔗 https://tether.io/news/tether-hits-13-billion-profits-for-2024-and-all-time-highs-in-u-s-treasury-holdings-usdt-circulation-and-reserve-buffer-in-q4-2024-attestation/
Tether Ranks Among Largest U.S. Debt Holders
“Tether Becomes 7th Largest U.S. Treasury Holder Amid Stablecoin Growth”
Cointelegraph, January 2025
🔗 https://cointelegraph.com/news/tether-becomes-7th-largest-us-treasury-holder-stablecoin-growth
U.S. Stablecoin Regulation – The GENIUS Act (2025)
“Seven Things to Know About the Federal Stablecoin Bill”
Covington & Burling LLP, February 2025
🔗 https://www.cov.com/en/news-and-insights/insights/2025/02/seven-things-to-know-about-the-federal-stablecoin-bill-the-genius-act
Trump Family Launches USD1 Stablecoin
“Trump Family Crypto Venture to Launch a Stablecoin”
Politico, March 25, 2025
🔗 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/25/trump-family-crypto-venture-to-launch-a-stablecoin-00247455
China’s Soft Power Projects in El Salvador
“China Gifts New National Library to El Salvador”
Reuters, regional reporting, 2023
🔗 (Search: Reuters El Salvador China library 2023 or Reuters.com)
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino on Global Debt Coverage
Quote from industry interviews and statements (2024–2025)
“Find 3.6 billion people, each holding $10,000 in USDT, and you’ve covered the U.S. national debt.”