Circle President Heath Tarbert told the US House Financial Services Committee on September 2, 2026 that stablecoins can help preserve the dollar’s global role, arguing that Congress should keep American law and the dollar embedded in the financial systems of the future, according to his written testimony and Bloomberg reporting. He cited the dollar’s share of global reserves slipping to 57.13% in the first quarter of 2026 from more than 70% in the late 1990s.
What happened?
Tarbert, president of Circle Internet Group, appeared before the House Financial Services Committee, according to the committee’s published testimony and Bloomberg (via Yahoo Finance). Bloomberg quoted him telling lawmakers: “Congress cannot determine which technologies will succeed. It can determine whether American law, American institutions, and the dollar will remain embedded in the systems that do.” He added, per the same report: “The dollar’s position was built. It can be built upon. It can also be spent down. Which path prevails will depend on more than this Committee.”
On the numbers, Bloomberg reported Tarbert put the dollar’s share of global reserves at 57.13% in the first quarter of 2026, down from above 70% in the late 1990s. He described USDC, Circle’s stablecoin, as having a circulating supply of about 73.7 billion tokens and being the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization. The testimony pointed to the GENIUS Act, the federal framework for payment stablecoins covering reserve requirements, redemption at par, disclosures and anti-money-laundering and sanctions compliance, with implementation scheduled for January 2027 or earlier.
Why does it matter?
The core argument, that privately issued dollar stablecoins can reinforce rather than undermine the dollar’s reserve status, is now the central pitch from US stablecoin issuers to Washington. Because the overwhelming majority of stablecoins are dollar-denominated and backed largely by US Treasuries and cash, their growth channels global demand into dollar assets. Tarbert’s framing casts stablecoins as a tool of dollar policy rather than a threat to it, a message tailored to a Congress weighing how aggressively to implement and expand crypto legislation.
Circle has a direct stake. The company secured a federally chartered national trust bank approval in July 2026 and a New York limited-purpose trust charter later that month, giving it an unusually regulated footing among stablecoin issuers. It benefits from a regime that rewards transparent, fully reserved dollar tokens: the GENIUS Act’s reserve, redemption and disclosure standards favor issuers built to meet them, and Circle has positioned USDC as already compliant. Tarbert’s testimony also stressed USDC’s growing non-speculative uses, from cross-border payments and corporate treasury to payroll and merchant commerce, casting stablecoins as payments infrastructure rather than trading chips. For more on the evolving rulebook, see our regulation section.
The GENIUS Act itself gives the argument teeth. As summarized in the testimony, the law sets a federal framework for payment stablecoins covering reserve requirements, redemption at par, disclosures, and anti-money-laundering and sanctions compliance, with implementation slated for January 2027 or earlier. By tying issuance to those standards, supporters contend, the US can channel global demand for digital dollars through regulated, transparent issuers rather than offshore alternatives, an outcome that would reinforce rather than dilute the dollar’s reach.
The reserve-share statistic should be read as context, not alarm: a decline from over 70% to about 57% over roughly a quarter-century still leaves the dollar the world’s dominant reserve currency by a wide margin. The figure is presented here as cited in Tarbert’s testimony and Bloomberg’s coverage.
What to watch next?
The practical questions are legislative and regulatory. Watch how quickly the GENIUS Act’s standards are implemented ahead of the January 2027 target, whether Congress advances further crypto market-structure legislation, and how competing issuers, including the newly announced bank consortium, position themselves within the same framework. Also worth following is how USDC’s roughly 73.7 billion tokens in circulation, as Tarbert described, evolve relative to rivals, and whether the dollar-share argument gains traction with lawmakers. Quotes and figures here are attributed to Circle’s written testimony on the House Financial Services Committee’s site and to Bloomberg via Yahoo Finance.
Sources: US House Financial Services Committee — Written testimony of Heath P. Tarbert; Bloomberg via Yahoo Finance — Circle CEO Urges US to Lead Digital Finance With Stablecoins
This is news reporting, not investment advice.
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Elena Petrova is a regulatory correspondent specializing in crypto law and policy with over 10 years of financial journalism experience. Formerly a finance reporter at Reuters, Elena covers SEC enforcement, MiCA implementation, and global stablecoin regulations. She holds a J.D. from Georgetown Law and is a member of the New York State Bar. Her regulatory analysis is frequently referenced by compliance officers and legal teams at major exchanges.
Conflicts of interest
I have no current legal practice or retainer relationships with any cryptocurrency company. Past employment relationships are listed publicly.
