[unabridged]

The US government currently doesn't care if I sell billions of USD and buy JPY instead, as long as I pay the proper taxes and they can see the transaction. I imagine crypto will be treated the same way, they just want to monitor the on/off ramps. Stablecoins are just a giant decentralized on/off ramp which they wish to bring into compliance.

[toomuchtodo]

Yes, very true. Crypto is a symptom of 1. the desire to move value for illicit transactions, 2. the desire to move value faster, and 3. the desire to speculate on an asset. Domestic instant payments and faster international payments solve for #2, but if crypto's benefit is only illicit payments, I don't see much of a future for it except to gamble on the possibility of appreciation (digital gold). AML/KYC isn't going away.

Stablecoins aren't an improvement over rows in a database held by a trusted and regulated entity and messages moving between queues for value transfer, but it'll take time for the hype train to run out of steam. I assume boredom will take hold once the ramps are heavily regulated, private wallets are outlawed, there's no more money to be made speculating and pumping/dumping shit coins, etc.