Circle executive Nikhil Chandhok says resistance to dollar-backed stablecoins could prevent the United States from attracting as much as $1 trillion in overseas demand for dollars.
Speaking at Moonshots LIVE, Chandhok said people outside the US could potentially move around $1 trillion into dollar stablecoins because they already want access to the US dollar. He also estimated that about $3 trillion is tied up in international bank transfers at any given time.
Chandhok questioned why the US would resist a payment system that could bring more foreign money into dollar-based assets.
“I was so confused. I was like, why don’t you want this, America? You can raise a trillion dollars from the world, because they believe in the dollar,” he said.
His $1 trillion figure was a potential demand estimate, not money the US has already lost. He also did not point to one specific US rule as the reason this demand could be missed.
The argument is based on how dollar stablecoins can make it easier for people outside the US to hold and move dollars. Instead of relying completely on traditional international bank transfers, users can transfer a digital asset tied to the dollar.
Chandhok said around $3 trillion is moving through the international banking system at any moment. He argued that much of this money sits in transit because traditional banking and settlement systems are outdated.
Circle has been pushing this use case through USDC. The company has also expanded its payment infrastructure with Fireblocks, allowing institutions to move USDC and settle payments into local currencies across more than 50 countries. The companies said some of these transfers can settle within minutes instead of taking several days through traditional banking channels.
Stablecoins could also increase demand for US Treasury securities. Under the GENIUS Act, approved payment stablecoin issuers must keep reserves equal to the amount of tokens they issue. Those reserves can include dollars, certain bank deposits and short-term US Treasury securities.
US officials have also been examining whether greater stablecoin adoption outside the country could create more demand for Treasury bills. A Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee analysis found that Tether and Circle had increased their Treasury bill holdings by about $70 billion since 2022.
However, this does not mean every new dollar entering stablecoins would automatically be invested in Treasury bills. Chandhok’s comments were about potential dollar demand rather than a direct estimate of future Treasury purchases.
US regulators are still developing the rules for stablecoin issuers. The Federal Reserve recently proposed reserve rules under the GENIUS Act and identified short-term Treasury bills as one type of asset that could back payment stablecoins issued by firms under its supervision.
Circle is also looking beyond traditional payments. The company has been developing tools for AI agents that can hold assets and make payments automatically.
Circle launched Agent Stack in May to support programmed payments by software agents. The company reported more than 900 paid services using the platform by the second quarter and said USDC represented 99.3% of payment volume on the x402 agent protocol.
Bernstein analysts have also pointed to AI agent payments as a possible source of future USDC demand. They estimated adjusted stablecoin transaction volume reached around $11 trillion in 2025 and was running at an annualized rate of about $17 trillion through July 2026.
At the same event, ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood focused on another major issue for the AI economy: energy.
Wood argued that US nuclear regulations have increased electricity costs and made it more expensive to provide the power needed for AI data centers. She claimed that US electricity prices could have been 50% lower without those regulations, although she did not provide a calculation supporting that figure during the discussion.
Wood also said humanoid robots are much more complex to build than robot taxis. She expects humanoid robots to become widespread later than some forecasts, including Elon Musk’s timeline.
She also discussed healthcare and AI, saying investors are more cautious because mistakes involving medical care can have much more serious consequences.
Emad Mostaque, the founder of Stability AI, also discussed differences in public attitudes toward AI, claiming that around 80% of Americans fear AI while around 80% of people in China view it positively.
