Bitcoin Near $100K as Stablecoin Debate Fuels Regulatory Tensions
Bitcoin has surged this week, climbing to nearly $100,000 per bitcoin as traders express concern over the future of the U.S. dollar. The price of Bitcoin, which experienced a significant decline during the final months of 2025, has seen a rebound as Goldman Sachs discreetly aligns itself with the crypto market optimists. As bitcoin and crypto traders set their sights on a potential game-changing move from the Federal Reserve in 2026, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan has issued a stark warning. He cautions that new bitcoin and crypto legislation could lead to a staggering $6 trillion exodus from banks as deposits are pulled out. “If you take out deposits, they’re either not going to be able to loan or they’re going to have to get wholesale funding, and that wholesale funding will come at a cost,” Moynihan said, highlighting U.S. Treasury Department studies indicating that $6 trillion of bank deposits could shift from the U.S. banking system into stablecoins. Stablecoins, typically pegged to the U.S. dollar, have experienced significant adoption in recent years, raising concerns that this technology might be establishing a “dangerous” parallel financial system.
“The creation of a parallel banking system that … has all the features of banking, including something that looks a lot like a deposit that pays interest, without sort of the associated prudential safeguards that have been developed over hundreds of years of bank regulation, is an obviously dangerous and undesirable thing,” Jeremy Barnum stated. Moynihan’s warning arrives amid intense lobbying from both crypto firms and the traditional banking sector regarding the pivotal crypto market structure bill, which could have allowed stablecoin issuers to provide interest-like yields on stablecoin deposits. “Crypto is encouraging American consumers to abandon traditional bank accounts in favor of ‘digital dollars’ called stablecoins,” Richard Blumenthal wrote, arguing against the bill.
The industry is actively working to supplant traditional savings accounts by providing ‘yield’ on tokens, which serves as the crypto counterpart to interest. Although this innovative type of digital currency might seem attractive, stablecoins are devoid of fundamental protections that shielded depositors at Silicon Valley Bank during its collapse in 2023. Bitcoin and crypto exchange Coinbase has significantly retracted its backing for the bill set for discussion by senators this week, asserting that it benefits traditional banks and casting uncertainty on its future. “Crypto needs to be treated on a level playing field with the rest of financial services so we can build this industry in a safe and trusted way in America,” Brian Armstrong posted.
The evolving regulatory landscape has propelled the bitcoin price into a rally heading into 2026, with crypto market observers highlighting this surge as a sign that bitcoin is increasingly behaving like gold rather than a traditional risk asset. Bitcoin has fundamentally decoupled from its 2021-era ‘high-beta’ reputation. “Trading firmly between $90,000 and $100,000, bitcoin is now functioning as a sophisticated macro hedge against central-bank volatility,” Wenny Cai said. The crypto market’s $3.2 trillion capitalization is now influenced not by retail enthusiasm, but by a fundamental ‘refactoring’ of the U.S. regulatory landscape.
