Asia Morning Briefing: China’s Car Industry vs. America’s Financial Strength — Why Stablecoins Anchor the Dollar

Asia Morning Briefing | 22 September 2025

A BYD Dolphin Mini sold in Bolivia for USDT highlights a striking contradiction in China’s de-dollarization efforts. While Beijing promotes the yuan as an alternative to the U.S. dollar in emerging markets, real-world trade increasingly relies on crypto-dollars.

In Bolivia, billboards advertise the bright green Dolphin Mini, a symbol of China’s growing export influence. Yet the EV is purchased in USDT, a stablecoin pegged to U.S. Treasuries—the very assets China is actively reducing from its reserves.

China has spent years encouraging Latin American nations to use the yuan. Bolivia now settles roughly 10% of its trade in RMB, Brazil maintains a 190 billion yuan ($26 billion) swap line, and Argentina taps renminbi liquidity to avert default.

However, for merchants and everyday consumers, the yuan often falls short. USDT provides liquidity, speed, and offshore usability—advantages China’s tightly controlled currency cannot offer. The yuan’s design primarily serves domestic monetary policy, not global commerce.

The paradox is clear: Chinese exports—from EVs and buses to soy and lithium—fuel demand not for the renminbi but for stablecoins. Across emerging markets, USDT has quietly become the practical medium of exchange, offering what China’s CBDC pilots and currency swap lines cannot: trust, convenience, and global reach.

Talk of a BRICS reserve currency or digital yuan has yet to translate into everyday use. Meanwhile, USDT dominates, reinforcing the dollar’s influence in a new digital form. The gap between China’s trade power and its monetary influence persists, and stablecoins are filling the void.

In Latin America, de-dollarization is happening—but in practice, it strengthens the dollar through crypto, rather than promoting the renminbi.

Market Snapshot

• Bitcoin (BTC): Holding above $114.5K with mild intraday weakness. Resistance persists around $115K–$117K amid institutional buying and U.S. rate cut expectations.
• Ethereum (ETH): Trading at $4,400, showing limited momentum. ETF inflows totaled $556M last week.
• Gold: Near record highs, buoyed by dollar weakness, central bank demand, inflation concerns, and expectations for Fed cuts.
• Nikkei 225: Rose 1.28% on Monday after China kept loan prime rates unchanged, following gains on Wall Street.