Macro-financial risk
2026-04-26
10 minute read
21 sources
Stablecoins meet the statute: GENIUS, MiCA, and the Treasury bid in 2026
USD 230 billion of dollar pegged stablecoins now sit between bank money, money market funds, and the US Treasury bill curve. The GENIUS Act, signed July 18, 2025, gives the architecture a federal license and an OCC primary regulator. MiCA closed the European retail market for USDT through the second half of 2024. The question for 2026 is no longer whether stablecoins are legitimate. It is who underwrites the reserves, where the Treasury demand sits, and which payment corridors the rails actually win.
Dollar pegged stablecoins reached USD 230 billion in circulation by Q1 2026, with Tether USDT at roughly USD 142 billion and Circle USDC at roughly USD 60 billion. Tether's Q4 2024 BDO attestation reported USD 113 billion of direct and indirect US Treasury exposure, which would rank Tether around the 18th largest sovereign holder of US Tr...