The Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok this week became a stage for fresh criticism of American monetary policy, with a top adviser to President Vladimir Putin arguing that Washington’s embrace of digital assets masks a larger plan: using stablecoins to ease its $35 trillion debt burden.
Dmitry Kobyakov, who delivered the remarks on September 6, framed crypto not as an innovation but as a financial tool the U.S. could exploit to restructure obligations. He suggested that the United States may one day shift part of its sovereign debt into digital tokens and later devalue them, effectively resetting the balance sheet at global expense.
Putin’s advisor Kobyakov: The U.S. has devised a crypto scheme to erase its massive debt at the world’s expense.
“The U.S. is now trying to rewrite the rules of the gold and cryptocurrency markets. Remember the size of their debt—35 trillion dollars. These two sectors (crypto… pic.twitter.com/R4RDeYtaGg
— Russia Direct (@RussiaDirect_) September 8, 2025
From Past Playbooks to Digital Finance
Kobyakov tied his warning to history, pointing to earlier episodes when U.S. debt problems were managed through sweeping monetary changes, such as abandoning the gold standard in the 1970s. The difference this time, he argued, is that blockchain -based assets create a new arena for the same strategy.
According to his account, the process would unfold in stages: debt placed into stablecoin instruments, followed by a deliberate reduction in value. “They’ll move it into the crypto cloud, devalue it—and start from scratch,” he said.
Rising Regulation in the U.S.
His criticism comes just months after President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act, the first comprehensive U.S. framework for dollar-pegged stablecoins. While American officials promote the law as a way to modernize finance and build confidence in digital dollars, Moscow views it as evidence that Washington sees crypto as a geopolitical tool.
Broader Challenge to Dollar Power
Russia has been vocal for years about its opposition to dollar dominance, especially since sanctions pushed it to develop alternative payment systems in 2014. By portraying stablecoins as a weapon in America’s debt strategy, Kobyakov linked crypto directly to the struggle over global financial order.
For Russia, the debate is about more than digital assets: it is about preventing what it sees as the U.S. exporting its domestic problems onto the rest of the world. For the U.S., however, the growing stablecoin market is a chance to maintain monetary influence at a time when rivals are pushing for alternatives.
