How does the digitization of money intersect with financial governance? This is an issue IGP has been working on since 2021. On August 7, two webinars hosted by the Institute for Humane Studies will bring our work directly into the policy discussion.
A white paper released by the Internet Governance Project (IGP) in February 2025 proposed to bolster the US dollar’s competitiveness by leveraging dollar stablecoins to forge a strategic interconnection with Bitcoin. We used network externality theory to show that such a move would reinforce the network effects that support the dollar’s preeminent position as the world currency. Such a move would also impose discipline on the dollar by making its conversion into the “hard” asset of Bitcoin easier, more legitimate and efficient.
That idea had legs. Within months the US wrote and passed the Genius Act, which legalizes stablecoins and established rules by which the stablecoin market can operate. On one side of the proposed interconnection, the dollar’s value declined by 11% in the first half of this year and the Trump administration’s new budget increased its future debt by trillions, indicating that further declines will be happening. Trump also threatened to fire the head of the Federal Reserve if he did not manipulate monetary policy in line with his political interests. On the other side of the trade, Bitcoin (BTC) has appreciated by somewhere between 3 – 15% against the US dollar in 2025. With a newly legalized stablecoin market falling into place, we are now in a position to take a longer look at the “interconnection argument” in the analysis of currency competition.
On August 7, a conference in Jackson, Wyoming will bring together economists, political economists, experts on bitcoin governance, and policy makers to discuss the interconnection of competing monetary networks.
Program
11:45 AM ET | US Dollar Compatibility with Bitcoin
Speakers: Lawrence White, Eric Alston,
Moderator: Milton Mueller
12:45 PM | Break
1:00 PM ET | Bitcoin Governance and USG Policy
Speakers: Troy Cross, Suyash Gupta, Matthew Ferranti
Moderator: Karim Farhat
