Before 2020, the crypto world was split into two camps.

Public blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum were open to anyone—messy, unpredictable, buzzing with activity.

Private blockchains like Hyperledger and Corda were closed systems for banks—controlled, polished, supposedly safe.

The pitch was simple: “You can have blockchain without the scary crypto stuff.”

Fast forward to 2025. The fight is back.

Only this time it’s not weird startups vs. banks.

It’s currencies vs. currencies.

Today, let’s look at how the playing field has evolved since stablecoins got the green light in the USA…

And what it means for crypto-at-large.

The Stablecoin Starter Pistol

Let’s start with Europe.

By way of background…

Europe has spent years lost in 500-page PDFs about a “Digital Euro” that might, maybe, someday exist. The plan: keep it private, keep it boring, let the banks oversee it for the most part.

Then July 2025 hit. And the U.S. dropped its regulatory nuke: the GENIUS Act.

Suddenly, the European Central Bank (ECB) saw the writing on the wall:

If the US gets its way, the dollar would soon be sprinting laps on public blockchains while the euro fumbled with its orthopedic inserts.

Put differently…

If Brussels sticks to its old plan—a closed, permissioned chain run through banks—it risks falling by the wayside in the new rules of money.

Merchants, fintechs, and traders will just use dollar stablecoins. They’re easier, faster, already plugged into global rails.

By August, the Financial Times reported the ECB is now seriously considering launching the digital euro on a public chain like Ethereum or Solana.

A major shift from its long-standing private model.

And Europe is just the beginning.

Red Yuan, Green Light

China was already years ahead at home on the digital payments front.

By 2025, hundreds of millions of ECNY wallets were live, plugged into Alipay and WeChat Pay. Every transaction programmable, monitored in real time—more “social credit on steroids” than digital cash.

But the yuan doesn’t travel well. Capital controls keep it trapped, and nobody abroad wants it.

Shortly after the passage of GENIUS, Beijing floated something once unthinkable: a yuan stablecoin. Not for the mainland, but offshore, with Hong Kong as the sandbox.

The mainland stays sealed, while Hong Kong pilots a yuan stablecoin aimed at trade, cross-border settlement, and challenging the dollar abroad… and likely on a public blockchain.

But even Europe and China are just a part of this story.

Now every finance minister from Seoul to Singapore is sprinting to catch up.

The Fourth Movers Club

South Korea had stalled on CBDCs for years. But once the U.S. legalized dollar stablecoins, fintech giant Toss announced plans for a won-backed coin.

Japan finally gave in, too.

After years of punishing crypto investors, regulators approved the first yen-pegged stablecoin, JPYC, and began fixing their tax code by moving crypto out of punitive income brackets and into stock-like treatment: a flat 20% tax, plus the ability to carry losses forward.

The Middle East didn’t hesitate. The UAE and Bahrain are rolling out dirham and dinar stablecoins under new rules.

Even Wyoming jumped in with its own Frontier Stable Token (FRNT). Every FRNT is backed by dollars in Treasuries, with the interest earmarked for the Wyoming School Foundation Program.

Circle proved the model for private firms; Wyoming made it state policy.

From Tokyo to Dubai to Casper, the choice is clear: build your own, or get swallowed by someone else’s.

Here’s what it means for crypto…

Bullish as Hell

When the GENIUS Act greenlit stablecoins on public blockchains, it forced Europe, China, Japan, Korea, the UAE—even Wyoming—to join the same game.

Every new state-backed or regulated stablecoin has to plug into existing crypto infrastructure: Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, Layer 2s, wallets, DeFi.

More liquidity, more users, more utility—all flowing into open systems.

Stablecoins are the on-ramp for billions who don’t care about “crypto” but care about payments, trade, and yield. And once they’re on-chain, the rest of the crypto economy—DeFi, tokenized assets, NFTs, AI subnets—is one click away.

The world’s money is being dragged, kicking and screaming, onto crypto rails.

It’s the biggest validation the space has ever seen. And nobody (NOBODY) is ready for what comes next.