Arthur Hayes Reveals: US Banks Could Unleash $6.8 Trillion T-Bill Frenzy via Stablecoins

Stablecoins aren't just for crypto degens anymore—they're about to turbocharge traditional finance.

Banks sitting on mountains of idle cash? Hayes argues dollar-pegged tokens could flip the switch on $6.8 trillion in dormant buying power. Suddenly those 'boring' T-bills look a lot sexier when crypto bridges the gap.

The irony? Wall Street might need DeFi's plumbing to fix its own liquidity problems. Guess even suits recognize efficiency when they see it—just don't expect them to admit who built the pipes.

Tokenized dollars

Hayes highlighted JPMorgan’s JPMD token as a case study of how big banks could shift toward blockchain-based compliance and automation.

He argued that traditional compliance processes, reliant on outdated tech and costly human oversight, could be replaced by AI-driven systems using transparent, on-chain data.

In his view, tokenized dollars like JPMD could dramatically cut compliance costs estimated at $20 billion annually across major banks while enabling near-instant regulatory reporting.

Hayes claimed AI tools could enforce regulatory rules more efficiently than human teams because they are built on public blockchains with fully identified addresses.

He said:

“An AI agent trained on the corpus of relevant compliance regulations can perfectly ensure that certain transactions are never approved. The AI can also instantaneously prepare any report requested by a regulator.”

More importantly, Hayes believes this shift offers banks significant advantages of reclaiming deposit dominance from fintech challengers, boosting profit margins by eliminating interest payments on tokenized deposits, and reaping share price gains from improved efficiency.

‘Debt monetization’

Hayes concluded that the US government’s embrace of stablecoins is less about innovation or financial freedom than about monetizing debt.

He said:

“The real stablecoin play isn’t betting on crusty FinTechs like Circle—it’s understanding that the US government just handed TBTF banks the launch keys to a multi-trillion-dollar liquidity bazooka disguised as ‘innovation.’ This isn’t DeFi. This isn’t financial freedom. This is debt monetization dressed in ethereum drag.”

Considering this, he warned investors watching the macro picture against waiting for traditional signals, such as another round of quantitative easing.

Instead, he advised:

“Go long Bitcoin. Go long JPMorgan. Forget about Circle. The stablecoin Trojan horse is already inside the fortress, and when it opens, it’s not armed with libertarian dreams—it’s loaded with T-bill buying liquidity aimed at keeping equities inflated, deficits funded, and Boomers sedated.”