Building the always-on digital dollar

When stablecoins first emerged, they were designed to solve one of crypto’s original challenges, namely breaking an insidious pattern of hyper volatility. Rather than turning to new-fangled technologies or novel market structures, the world’s most successful stablecoins turned (to varying degrees) to the US dollar as the anchor of trust and economic stability. Just as in the real world where the greenback carries outsize weight as the go-to currency for global commerce and reserves, the US dollar now reigns supreme in the always-on digital economy.

While not all stablecoins are created equal, virtually all successful stablecoins reference the dollar. There are more than $190 billion in circulation, as of December 2024, cumulatively supporting trillions in novel economic activity. The novelty is not with the transactional activity per se, but the fact that for the first time in history, stablecoins show the way toward an era of open, programmable and composable money with the scale and reach of the internet.