Government control could spark the rise of ‘dark stablecoins’ – How?

• Per CryptoQuant founder, ‘dark stablecoins’ may be the answer to increasing government control of legacy digital dollars. 
• Community reactions were mixed; some supported it, while others maintained that BTC is a better alternative. 

CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju has predicted the possible rise of censorship-resistant ‘dark stablecoins’ in the future.

Young Ju argued that increasing push for government control on legacy stablecoins like Circle’s USDC and Tether’s USDT could accelerate the ‘dark stablecoins’ scenario. 

Bitcoin vs. stablecoins

According to Young Ju, Bitcoin’s [BTC] early adopters embraced it because of its censorship-resistant ability. 

However, the intermediaries involved in regulated stablecoins will make it difficult for legacy digital dollars to survive government control. 

The executive projected that the ‘dark stablecoins’ may be ‘algorithmic’ or those issued by friendly countries that don’t impose financial controls. 

He cited Tether’s USDT as a potential ‘dark stablecoin’ candidate if the firm opted out of U.S. compliance purview. 

“USDT itself used to be considered a censorship-resistant stablecoin. If Tether chooses not to comply with U.S. government regulations under a future Trump administration, it could become a dark stablecoin in an increasingly censored internet economy.”

Here, it is worth noting that U.S stablecoin bills, especially the Senate GENIUS Act, propose strict control on on-shore digital dollar issuers for national security and consumer security purposes. 

This includes a restricted access feature to the digital dollar if the recipient is on government’s blacklist. 

Young Ju’s outlook elicited mixed reactions. Some supported the idea, with one user calling legacy stablecoins a ‘chokepoint for BTC.’ 

“Stablecoins are a choke point for Bitcoin, like any third-party intermediary. Europe has already tightened access to Bitcoin via stablecoin regulation. And, the U.S. is also slowly gaining more control over USDT flows. I agree, we need dark stablecoins!” 

However, others believed that BTC was enough and there was no need for ‘dark stablecoins.’ 

Stablecoins are digital currencies pegged to other digital or traditional currencies like the U.S. dollar, the Euro, or commodities like gold. 

As of the 25th of May, U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins remain the most dominant in the segment.

Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC collectively control over 90% of the market. Out of the stablecoin market size of $242 billion, USDT ($149.9B) and USDC ($60B) account for $209 billion.