Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire says that the threat of de-dollarization is not as easy to dismiss as it once was.
In a new interview at the Currency in the Crossfire event hosted by Foreign Policy magazine, Allaire says that nations are taking more decisive steps than in the past to move away from the US dollar as a reserve currency and medium of trade exchange.
“There’s been this theme of de-dollarization for a long time, and people talk about it every 10 years. And people say it’s not going to really happen.
And I think we’re now at a really different place. You cannot miss the news every day and hear about different initiatives to denominate different types of trade in alternative currencies or efforts to establish new alternative payment systems. And I think this is part of the multi-polar world that’s emerging is there’s a desire to have autonomy outside of the dollar…
There’s concern about weaponization. There’s concern about what could happen if you’re not on the right side of the United States. And that’s a concern that’s driving some things. There’s concern about the indebtedness of the United States government, and that’s a concern for people who hold T-bills and the like over a very long-term period. And so you’re seeing some of these shifts. You’re seeing reserve status shift and the like.”
The CEO of the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin issuer goes on to say that while de-dollarization is something that could take decades, it is not something to be ignored.
“It’s important not to overhype this because these are things that happen over decades. But I think it’s also really critical because it’s a moment in time where things very much feel different. The realignment that’s happening around the world is real. And that’s political and economic, and that’s real. And so the kind of efforts to create these alternative systems are much more genuine than ever in the past…
You can sort of say, ‘Well, that’s not going to be challenged for a long time.’ But that’s like the frog in boiling water, and I think you’ve got to decide when you’re going to get out. And what are you going to do about it.”
Allaire also believes that one way the country can keep the US dollar competitive is by embracing digital assets like Circle.
“From my perspective, digital dollars, having sound regulation around this industry and making digital dollars an export product to the internet and to the world is really critical from a competitiveness perspective right now.”
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