Snapshot · Freakonomics Radio
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant projected stablecoin supply could grow from roughly $300 billion to $2 trillion, which Gensler warns could disintermediate the US banking system.
Where this was said
At 56:00 · chapter starts 54:50
The stablecoin debate is presented as a live and consequential policy fight. Gensler notes that Jamie Dimon has been raising similar alarms, and thinks Dimon is right. The core concern: if US dollar-pegged stablecoins grow from roughly $300 billion to $2 trillion — a figure Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant has publicly endorsed — without being subject to the same anti-money-laundering rules as banks, they will disintermediate the US banking system by attracting deposits that currently sit inside regulated institutions. Tether, the largest stablecoin, receives particular scrutiny: Gensler suggests close to 20% of its backing may be in non-dollar assets including Bitcoin and alternative investments, not actual US dollars. The political dimension is unavoidable: the legislation that would legitimize stablecoins is being signed by a president with $1.4 billion in personal crypto profits.
Stablecoins are at $300 billion and could hit $2 trillion. If that happens with loose regulation and no money-laundering compliance, Gensler warns it would gut the US banking system. Meanwhile, Tether may have 20% of its backing in non-dollar assets.
President Trump's disclosed $1.4 billion in crypto profits while simultaneously signing legislation favorable to the crypto industry. Gensler says this undermines public trust in governance at the worst possible moment.
Despite months of meticulous preparation, Starter Story's initial launch attracted zero users — a humbling reminder that building alone guarantees nothing.
A single Reddit link post quickly drove 100 visitors to the Starter Story website, igniting the founder's belief in social traffic.
After reformatting content as a native self-post (no direct link spam), the post exploded with hundreds of upvotes and thousands of readers.
By posting again and again with the native-content strategy, the founder's posts repeatedly hit Reddit's front page, reaching millions of readers.
Before Reddit banned his domain, the founder converted his viral traffic into an email list of tens of thousands — a self-owned audience independent of Reddit.
Redditors eventually organized a petition to ban starterstory.com posts, effectively ending the Reddit growth channel — but the email list was already built.
The Reddit attention strategy ultimately served as the foundation for a million-dollar business, proving that free distribution channels can replace paid marketing.
The key tactic was keeping content fully on-platform (no direct link spam), then adding a small link at the post's end for users who wanted more.
With a thriving email list and a self-owned audience, the founder quit his six-figure New York City salary job to go all-in on Starter Story.
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