In the new wave of digital finance, stablecoins are not so much disruptors of the old system, but rather “digital relays of the Bretton Woods System”—carrying the credit of the US dollar, anchoring US Treasury assets, and reshaping the global settlement order.

I. Historical Review: The Three Structural Leaps of Dollar Hegemony

The new phase after 2020 is the reconstruction process of the digitization, programmability, and fragmentation of the dollar’s credit foundation, with stablecoins being the key connective tissue of this reconstruction.

2. The essence of stablecoins: the on-chain “dollar-Treasury” anchoring mechanism

Stablecoins, especially those pegged to the US dollar like USDC, FDUSD, and PYUSD, have an issuance mechanism of “on-chain dollar certificates + US Treasury bonds or cash reserves,” forming a simplified version of the “Bretton mechanism:”

This indicates that the stablecoin system has essentially rebuilt a “digital version of the Bretton Woods framework,” where the anchor has shifted from gold to US Treasuries, and the national settlement has transformed into on-chain consensus.

3. The Role of US Treasuries: The “New Reserve Gold” Behind Stablecoins

Currently, the reserve structure of mainstream stablecoins is dominated by U.S. Treasury securities, especially short-term T-Bills (1-3 month Treasury bills), which have the highest proportion:

• USDC: Over 90% of reserves are allocated to short-term US Treasury bonds + cash;
• FDUSD: 100% cash + T-Bills;
• Tether is also gradually increasing its allocation in U.S. Treasury bonds while reducing its commercial paper.

▶ Why have US Treasuries become the “hard currency” of on-chain finance?

1. Highly liquid, suitable for handling large on-chain redemptions;
2. Stable returns can provide issuers with interest margin earnings.
3. Sovereign credit backing of the US dollar enhances market confidence;
4. Regulatory-friendly and can be used as a reserve asset for regulatory compliance.

From this perspective, stablecoins are “new Bretton tokens backed by T-Bills as gold,” embedding the credit system of the U.S. Treasury.

Four, stablecoins are an extension of US dollar sovereignty, not a weakening.

Although on the surface, stablecoins are issued by private institutions, which seems to weaken the central bank’s control over the US dollar. But in essence:

• Every USDC issuance must correspond to 1 dollar in US treasury bonds/cash.
• Each on-chain transaction is priced in “U.S. dollar units”;
• Every stablecoin that circulates globally expands the usage radius of the US dollar.

This allows the United States to “airdrop” dollars into global wallets without the need for SWIFT or military projection, representing a new paradigm of outsourcing monetary sovereignty.

Therefore, we say:

Stablecoins are the “unofficial contractors” of American monetary hegemony.
—— It is not a replacement for the US dollar, but rather pushes the US dollar on-chain, global, and into a “bankless zone.”

5. The prototype of the Bretton 3.0 System has emerged: digital dollar + on-chain U.S. Treasury bonds + programmable finance.

In this framework, the global financial system will evolve into the following model:

This means that the future Bretton Woods System will no longer take place at the Bretton Woods conference table, but rather through negotiations and consensus among smart contract code, on-chain asset pools, and API interfaces.

6. Risks and Uncertainties: How far can this system go?

VII. Conclusion: Stablecoins are not the endpoint, but a “midfield supply station” for the global governance of the US dollar.

Stablecoins seem to be private innovations, but they are actually becoming a “de facto bridge” for the U.S. government’s digital currency strategy:

• It connects old finance (US Treasury bonds) with new finance (DeFi);
• It extends U.S. financial sovereignty to the smart contract layer;
• It allows the US dollar to maintain its dominant position in the digital transformation.

Just as the Bretton Woods System established the dollar’s credibility through a gold anchor, today’s stablecoins are attempting to rewrite the currency governance structure with “on-chain T-Bills + dollar clearing consensus.”

Stablecoins are not a revolution, but a reconstruction of U.S. debt, a reshaping of the dollar, and an extension of sovereignty.

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