Former House Speaker Paul D. Ryan believes that stablecoins, specifically those pegged to the United States dollar, could help alleviate the country's debt crisis and maintain the dollar's dominance in international trade. In a recent opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal, Ryan argued that the U.S. is headed towards a predictable yet avoidable debt crisis and that dollar-backed stablecoins are one answer to keep the dollar attractive.

Ryan, who now serves as a policy council member at cryptocurrency-focused venture capital firm Paradigm, believes that stablecoins would provide an immediate and durable increase in demand for U.S. debt, reducing the risk of a failed debt auction and attendant crisis. He notes that the $162 billion stablecoin market already provides a huge source of demand for U.S. Treasurys and that its role in preserving the dollar's dominance "couldn't be timelier."

The former House Speaker also highlighted the importance of integrating the U.S. dollar on various digital infrastructure investment platforms in emerging markets, citing China's efforts to integrate the Chinese yuan on such platforms. He emphasized that the U.S. must find its own solution before it's too late, as China is tapping latent demand for safe and convenient digital money.

Ryan believes that a formidable regulatory framework for stablecoins already has bipartisan support in Congress, which could help "dramatically expand the use of digital dollars at a critical time." His opinion piece received praise from several industry leaders, including Emin Gün Sirer, CEO of Ava Labs, who called stablecoins "one of the best things to come out of crypto" and a way to maintain the dominance of the dollar around the world.

However, not everyone agrees with Ryan's assessment. Adam Gladstein, the Human Rights Foundation's chief strategy officer, believes that more stablecoin use would continue to "perpetuate and reinforce" the same financial system that Bitcoin serves to "subvert and replace."