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Promote with Leviathan NewsArthur Hayes’ Substack essay **“Assume The Position”** analyzes what he describes as an emerging **“stablecoin mania” in public equity markets**, triggered in his view by the prospect of a **Circle (USDC) IPO** and the market’s search for yield and growth narratives tied to dollar-linked payment infrastructure. Hayes argues that equity investors are about to treat listed stablecoin issuers and related plays as high‑beta proxies on U.S. dollar demand and global liquidity, in ways that rhyme with prior speculative waves in crypto and traditional finance. Writing as CIO of Maelstrom and former BitMEX CEO, he frames stablecoin businesses as deeply intertwined with U.S. monetary policy, Treasury markets, and regulatory risk, and suggests that equity valuations may overlook how dependent these firms are on interest income from reserves and on permissive policy and banking access. The essay situates stablecoins as a central pillar of the crypto-dollar system, arguing that asset‑backed dollar tokens effectively function as shadow money-market funds whose profitability scales with short‑term interest rates and the size of their float. Hayes warns that if public markets start rewarding rapid supply growth and balance-sheet duration risk, issuers could face incentives similar to past boom‑bust credit cycles, with mis‑matched assets, concentrated banking relationships, or regulatory shocks posing systemic risks to both crypto and equity holders. For traders and institutions, the piece matters because it frames Circle’s listing not just as a single IPO but as a potential template for how **stablecoin economics, regulation, and dollar liquidity** will be priced, traded, and speculated on in public markets—linking the fate of large centralized stablecoins more tightly to broader macro and equity cycles.
AI-generated background, compiled from web sources — not editorial content.
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