Christopher Beam on the flimsy logic behind stablecoin boosterism Last July, President Donald Trump signed the Genius Act into law. The legislation establishes a nationwide regulatory framework for stablecoins—cryptocurrency tokens that are pegged to the US dollar—and officially clears the way for banks and other financial institutions to issue their own with federal approval. Crypto boosters like Donald Trump Jr. have argued that legalizing dollar-denominated stablecoins would help reinforce the greenback’s status as the world’s dominant currency. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has made the same case. The basic idea is that, because stablecoin issuers are required to back tokens 1-to-1 with dollar-denominated assets such as Treasury bills, the proliferation of stablecoins will translate into more demand for government-issued debt. …