U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that American leadership in digital assets will reinforce the dollar's global position, even as Congress stalled on the Clarity Act, market-structure legislation meant to govern crypto.
Speaking at Ripple's Swell conference in New York with CEO Brad Garlinghouse, Bessent argued that the foundations of reserve-currency power are shifting. "We will keep our military umbrella, but increasingly, it becomes a technological umbrella," he said. He grouped digital assets with artificial intelligence and semiconductors as areas where the United States and China compete to build dominant infrastructure.
Bessent drew the most concrete link through stablecoins, dollar-pegged tokens whose issuers typically hold reserves that include U.S. Treasury securities. He said stablecoins could give people in countries with high inflation or volatile currencies easier access to dollars. CoinGecko data puts the share of stablecoins denominated in dollars above 98 percent, with Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC the largest. Bessent himself put the figure above 90 percent.
The Clarity Act failed a Senate procedural vote on September 15, falling short at 49 to 50 when 60 votes were needed. Disputes included ethics provisions related to federal officials' crypto interests and stablecoin yield.
Bessent called the setback disappointing but said Treasury could work with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to address regulatory gaps. "At Treasury, we have a lot of convening powers," he said. He also said regulators could set guardrails to prevent banks from cutting off crypto firms, a practice known as debanking.
The Comptroller of the Currency finalized its rule implementing the GENIUS Act, which sets requirements for payment stablecoin issuers. The federal framework takes effect January 18, 2027. Agency action can clarify rules within existing authority, but it lacks the permanence of an act of Congress and can be reversed by a future administration.