On June 13, 2025, billionaire investor Philippe Laffont said at the Coinbase Cryptocurrency State event held in New York that the idea of an interest-free stablecoin was “outrageous”.
Lafonte is the founder of the hedge fund Coatue Management, which manages approximately 60 billion US dollars in assets. He believes that stablecoins should provide passive income by paying spot interest rates to users through “simple contracts”.
Recently, as US lawmakers advance the GENIUS bill aimed at establishing a regulatory framework for stablecoins, the issue of approving interest-paying stablecoins has become a focus among cryptocurrency lobbyists, banks, and regulatory authorities. Financial regulatory authorities believe that interest-paying stablecoins may encourage consumers to withdraw funds from strictly regulated institutions and invest them in riskier cryptocurrency platforms. Cryptocurrency companies have been pushing for the approval of interest-paying stablecoins for months. Lafonte also emphasized that stablecoins have many use cases, including flexible yield products.
The market capitalization of stablecoins has soared over the past year. According to DefiLlama data, the current market capitalization of stablecoins has reached 251 billion US dollars, representing a year-on-year growth of 55%. With the rising demand, several companies, including Bitgo and Bitget, have launched tokens pegged to the US dollar.
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