VanEck’s head of digital assets research, Matthew Sigel, criticized a recent US Treasury Department’s views on digital assets in a recent report, claiming it had an anti-stablecoin stance based on outdated academic views.

Sigel stated that the Treasury relied on a single academic study by Gary Gorton and Jeffery Zhang to justify a preference for centralized financial systems. Additionally, he said the study’s US-centric historical analysis promotes a “recycled narrative” that private money is inherently unstable, deeming it misleading. 

Sigel added:

“History from other countries shows that private currencies don’t automatically lead to instability — when the right checks and balances are in place, they can be just as reliable as government-issued money.”

The Treasury Department’s document had positive remarks about representing real assets on the blockchain, a process known as tokenization. It added that stablecoins and tokenization could reshape the financial landscape.

However, it warned of potential stability risks related to stablecoins and argued that their growing reliance on Treasuries presents risks if left unregulated.

Outdated arguments

Sigel argued that Gorton and Zhang’s study circulates within an academic “echo chamber,” reinforcing US-specific concerns without acknowledging global precedents. He said stablecoins have shown the potential to function securely under appropriate regulatory frameworks worldwide. 

Additionally, Sigel criticized the comparison between 19th-century wildcat banknotes and stablecoins, arguing that the Treasury’s stance fails to consider how private digital currencies can operate in a stable manner in modern financial ecosystems.

He added that modern stablecoins have real-time data and transparent transactions that are far removed from the chaotic environments of the past, and the old problems do not apply to them.

Sigel concluded with a call for broader, global scrutiny. He believes understanding the potential of stablecoins and private digital currencies requires moving beyond US-only perspectives and drawing on international financial experiences. 

Additionally, Sigel urged US regulators to adopt a more inclusive view that reflects the realities of an interconnected, digital global economy.

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