Yesterday, David Sacks, America’s newly minted Crypto Czar, stood before the press and made it official:

We are entering the ‘Golden Age for Digital Assets.’

Which means they’ve stopped calling it a scam and started calling it ‘a strategic financial instrument.’

But that’s only half the story.

While Sacks was preaching the gospel of digital assets, the White House was busy crafting new tariffs…

The kind that make global markets panic, central banks sweat, and CNBC anchors practice their 'breaking news' faces.

These two things, on the surface, seem about as related as quantum physics and cheese sandwiches.

But, as you’ll see, they are very much connected.

Today, we’ll explore these three things:

• What Sacks said.
• What Sacks didn’t say.
• And, most importantly, who was in the room.

By the end, I hope to give you the big picture on exactly where the crypto industry is headed in America (and beyond).

Hint: it’s bigger than you think.

What Sacks Said

As expected, stablecoins stole the show.

“Stablecoins,” Sacks said, “have the potential to ensure American dollar dominance internationally and increase the usage of the US dollar digitally as the world’s reserve currency.”

Astute ALC readers will know we’ve been on this beat long before our dear Sacks even uttered the syllables.

Trump’s recent Executive Order all but confirmed the plan: “promote the development and growth of lawful and legitimate dollar-backed stablecoins worldwide” while banning a central bank digital currency (CBDC) outright.

Sacks explained that widespread stablecoin adoption could “create potentially trillions of dollars of demand for U.S. Treasuries, which could lower long-term interest rates.”

Translation: The more people use stablecoins, the more issuers like Circle (USDC) and Tether (USDT) buy U.S. debt to back them.

And more Treasury buyers mean the government can fund deficits at lower costs—a convenient financial buffer as the administration shakes things up.

Sound familiar? It should.

This is the Eurodollar system 2.0.

During the Cold War, Eurodollars cemented the dollar’s global dominance by circulating USD outside the U.S. banking system.

Now, stablecoins are doing the same thing—only faster, more efficiently, and without asking for permission.

And this is beyond armchair speculation.

During financial crises in Argentina and Turkey, dollar-based stablecoins traded at a premium, acting as a safe haven while local currencies crumbled.

And the numbers are staggering: 97% of the $227 billion stablecoin market is tied to the U.S. dollar. In 2024 alone, stablecoin transactions hit $27.6 trillion—outpacing Visa and Mastercard combined.

Bottom line: Stablecoins are the shock absorber.

And if this works, the world may have no choice but to keep transacting in digital dollars—whether they like it or not.

But it’s what Sacks didn’t say that should really pique our interest.

What Sacks Didn’t Say

Stablecoins are just the first step of a larger trend of tokenization: the process of converting real-world assets or rights into digital tokens on blockchain.

Beyond currency, firms are also tokenizing stocks, funds, and commodities.

Securitize, a blockchain fintech, partnered with asset manager Hamilton Lane to tokenize its private equity funds.

In one case, Hamilton Lane’s $5.6 billion Secondary Fund VI was offered as tokens on the Polygon blockchain. This move dropped the minimum investment from the usual $5 million to just $10,000 for qualified investors.

Victor Jung, Hamilton Lane’s Head of Digital Assets, said this:

“The historic performance and diversification benefits of the private markets are real. Globally, there are over 140,000 private companies with annual revenues over $100 million, versus approximately 19,000 public companies with the same annual revenues, and we believe that investors shouldn’t be required to have a high income or millions in net worth to access these assets.”

Tokenization, in short, aligns strongly with Trump’s economic goals.

It can stimulate growth by making illiquid assets investable and attracting new capital.

It’s one of the easiest ways to spur innovation-led economic expansion – “making America a leader in the digital assets space,” as Sacks put it.

Finally, the third prong:

Who Was in the Room

The most interesting thing about David Sacks' press conference was not what he said or didn’t say…

It was who showed up.

The majority of congressmen who spoke weren’t who you would expect. They weren’t SEC hawks. They weren’t banking industry watchdogs.

They were from agriculture and commodities.

That might sound random—until you realize what it means.

For years, crypto companies have begged to be regulated by the CFTC instead of the SEC. And now, it looks like they’re about to get their wish.

Why the CFTC? Their oversight is generally seen as lighter-touch and more adaptable to innovation.

(The CFTC’s mandate focuses on market integrity and fraud prevention, while the SEC imposes stricter disclosure and registration requirements.)

If crypto-at-large officially gets classified as a commodity, rather than a security, it means one thing: fewer restrictions, more innovation.

Meaning, the US government is about to do for crypto what it did for the Internet in the 1990s…

Give it breathing room to grow before regulating it into oblivion.

Point blank: the ink isn’t dry on the future of finance. And crypto just grabbed the pen.

Dismiss it at your own risk.