U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that American leadership in digital assets could reinforce the dollar’s global standing, even as Congress remains stalled on the market-structure legislation intended to govern the sector.

Speaking at Ripple’s Swell conference — the company’s annual industry gathering — in New York alongside the company’s chief executive, Brad Garlinghouse, Bessent argued that the foundations of reserve-currency power are shifting. For much of modern history, he said, the dollar’s dominance rested largely on military strength.

“We will keep our military umbrella, but increasingly, it becomes a technological umbrella,” he said.

Bessent grouped digital assets with artificial intelligence and semiconductors as fields in which the United States and China are competing to build dominant infrastructure, and suggested that the financial rails countries adopt will shape the dollar’s international reach.

The most concrete link he drew ran through stablecoins — dollar-pegged tokens whose issuers typically hold reserves that include U.S. Treasury securities. Bessent 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%, with Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC the largest. Bessent himself put the figure above 90%. The estimates differ, but the dollar clearly dominates the category.

NEW: Secretary Scott Bessent says the Treasury is moving on crypto regulation with or without Congress

He says they will “bring the SEC and CFTC together to close the gaps through regulation.” pic.twitter.com/JnsT3oxVEn

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) October 28, 2026

Bessent has also argued that stablecoin reserves could increase demand for Treasury debt. Last year, he suggested stablecoins could generate $2 trillion in short-term demand for Treasuries and bills. That projection depends on how quickly stablecoin supply grows, what reserve rules apply, and how issuers choose to invest their reserves.

Bitcoin traded around $80,000 to $81,000 this week ahead of the Federal Reserve’s upcoming policy decision, which sets the federal funds rate — the benchmark for short-term U.S. interest rates. Bitcoin advocates have long argued that a neutral, non-issuer asset offers something distinct from dollar-pegged tokens.

Broader crypto legislation trends

The regulatory backdrop remains more uncertain. The Comptroller of the Currency, the federal regulator for national banks, has finalized its rule implementing the GENIUS Act — the stablecoin statute signed in July 2025 — which sets requirements for payment stablecoin issuers. The federal framework takes effect on January 18, 2027.

The broader CLARITY Act, which would establish market-structure rules for digital assets, failed a Senate procedural vote on September 15, falling 49 to 50, short of the 60 votes needed to advance under normal Senate procedure. Rules of that kind would settle how digital asset oversight is divided between the SEC, which polices securities, and the CFTC, which handles commodities and derivatives — the very gap Bessent now says agencies can close on their own. Disputes included ethics provisions related to federal officials’ crypto interests and stablecoin yield. Banks and the White House clashed over those yield terms.

Treasury’s willingness to work around CLARITY Act failure

Bessent called the setback disappointing. He said the 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, describing the agencies as “great partners.”

He also said regulators could set guardrails to prevent banks from cutting off crypto firms, a practice known as debanking.

“I think we can set up regulatory best practices, guardrails that will prevent that from happening again,” he said.

Those remarks did not set out a formal plan, working group, or timeline. 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.

Next week’s midterm elections could further stall the CLARITY Act, according to analysts at TD Cowen.

This article was first published by Bitcoin Magazine.