Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s plan to shift U.S. borrowing toward shorter-term debt has a potential ally in the Trump administration’s push for crypto legislation, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The connection runs through stablecoins. Under the Genius Act, the crypto regulatory law passed last year, U.S.-issued stablecoins backed by the dollar can hold only certain assets to maintain their peg — including Treasury securities maturing within 93 days. Bessent has previously cited projections that the stablecoin market could grow from its current $300 billion to nearly $4 trillion, and has written that such growth “could lower government borrowing costs,” according to the Journal.
Last week, the U.S. Treasury announced it would increase buybacks of longer-term bonds — a move that can be funded by issuing more short-term Treasury bills. Bessent, speaking on CNBC, called the approach a Treasury twist. Stablecoin growth would create additional demand for exactly those shorter-dated instruments.
President Donald Trump hosted crypto industry executives at the White House last week and pressed Congress to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which would establish a broader regulatory framework for crypto markets. Among those attending were Coinbase Global CEO Brian Armstrong, Gemini’s Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi, and Robinhood Markets’ Vlad Tenev. The Securities and Exchange Commission also proposed a new regulatory framework for crypto assets last week.
The Clarity Act has stalled in the Senate ahead of a September 15 procedural vote, with the dispute centering on whether stablecoin reward programs compete with bank deposits. The bill cleared the Senate Banking Committee in May and passed the House in July 2025.
Shares of Circle Internet Group and Coinbase Global both rose more than 20% last week in anticipation of regulatory progress. TD Cowen analyst Bryan Bergin wrote in a recent note that Clarity Act passage “would reduce friction via greater regulatory certainty,” though he noted adoption was advancing without the law.
A Brookings Institution review found that stablecoins could generate substantial new demand for Treasury bills, particularly from foreign savers in countries with less stable currencies. In one scenario outlined by Citi Institute in which stablecoins reach a $4 trillion market, their Treasury bill holdings could represent roughly a quarter of bills outstanding by 2030.
The overall stablecoin market has plateaued in recent months and is little changed from last October.
