Scott Bessent — Master of Coin

[Xerxes]

Pretty good podcast with the new U.S. treasury secretary, talks about his hedge fund days. 

 

this was released on Nov 4th, before he became official candidate. Maybe it was recorded prior to that and it was re-released. I do not know. 

 

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/capital-allocators/id1223764016?i=1000675587280

 

 

[Xerxes]

 

[Xerxes]

 

[Kizion]

8 hours ago, Xerxes said:

 

Damn he's walking on a thin line with his answers. 

[TB]

 

Why stablecoins will become more important and USD more dominant by Stripe - https://stripe.com/annual-updates/2024

 

In reasoning about stablecoins, two comparisons are relevant: the petrodollars and eurodollars. The petrodollar system refers to agreements between the US and Gulf states (originally just Saudi Arabia) to have international oil purchases priced in dollars and much of the proceeds reinvested in US Treasuries in exchange for military and security guarantees. These agreements created more demand for US dollars, in turn allowing America to maintain lower interest rates and strengthening the dollar’s position as the world’s preeminent reserve currency. Stablecoin issuers will, in a similar way, be large buyers of US debt and create more dollar strength. The eurodollar system in turn provides an interesting comparison around access to the dollar. Eurodollars refers to a system of US dollar storage at banks outside the United States—the confusing name stems from European banks being the first hub for this activity, though it now happens around the world. Eurodollars became very popular among non-US corporations despite being far unwieldier than stablecoins. We expect that stablecoins, as an easier-to-use and more accessible version of eurodollars, will bring similar benefits to a much broader group of actors. We further note with interest that, despite regulatory uncertainty in the United States, early stablecoin adoption has shown a notable US dollar preference, with an estimated 99% of stablecoin balances being USD-based.

 

Edited Sunday at 03:43 AM by TB

[gfp]

6 minutes ago, TB said:

Eurodollars refers to a system of US dollar storage at banks outside the United States

 

This may have been what the eurodollar was when the term was first coined, but this isn't exactly what the eurodollar is today as the term is commonly used.  The eurodollar system is offshore US-dollar-denominated instruments - bank money, derivatives, etc - but not actual US dollars on deposit in offshore banks.  The eurodollars are created outside of the US government monetary system (primarily by large international banks) and only happen to use USD as the unit of account.  They are a "dollar" like my height is measured in the metric system.  They are not a dollar like a t-bill or bank reserve whose quantity is controlled by the US government.  The federal government does not control the quantity or even track the quantity of eurodollar US-dollar denominated "money."