Asia Morning Briefing: China’s Auto Push Meets America’s Monetary Edge — Stablecoins Keep Dollar on Top

Asia Morning Briefing | September 22, 2025

A BYD Dolphin Mini purchased with USDT in Bolivia captures the contradiction at the heart of China’s de-dollarization campaign. Beijing champions the yuan as an alternative to U.S. dominance, but on the ground it is crypto-dollars—not RMB—that are powering trade.

Billboards in La Paz feature a striking green BYD Dolphin Mini, marketed as a symbol of China’s export reach. Yet despite being sold in a BRICS country, the car is priced in USDT, a stablecoin tied to U.S. Treasuries—the very instruments Beijing has been offloading.

China has long positioned de-dollarization in Latin America as a strategy of independence from Washington. Bolivia now clears about 10% of trade in yuan, Brazil has a RMB 190 billion ($26 billion) swap line in place, and Argentina relies on renminbi funding to stave off default.

But for everyday buyers and merchants, the yuan remains impractical. Chinese exports—from EVs and buses to soy and lithium—dominate Latin American markets, but they generate demand for USDT instead of RMB. For economies under capital controls, grappling with inflation, or lacking dollars, Tether provides the liquidity and offshore utility that the yuan cannot.

This creates a paradox: China’s exports strengthen the demand for digital dollars, not for its own currency. Stablecoins have become the de facto payment infrastructure across emerging markets, offering speed and trust unmatched by Beijing’s CBDC pilots or its currency swap lines.

Despite years of rhetoric, China’s digital yuan remains largely domestic, and proposals for a BRICS currency have yet to leave the drawing board. Meanwhile, USDT has quietly embedded itself as the settlement currency of choice, reinforcing the dollar’s supremacy in tokenized form.

Unless Beijing can align its trade influence with its monetary ambitions, the gap will continue to grow. De-dollarization in Latin America is unfolding, but not in the RMB’s favor—it is stablecoins that are reshaping the region’s financial rails.

Market Watch

• Bitcoin (BTC): Trading above $114.5K, modestly weaker intraday. Resistance remains near $115K–$117K as institutional flows and U.S. rate cut bets provide support.
• Ethereum (ETH): At $4,400, slightly soft in the session. Momentum remains muted, though ETF inflows added $556M last week.
• Gold: Hovering near record highs on Fed cut expectations, strong central bank buying, dollar weakness, and inflation risks.
• Nikkei 225: Up 1.28% as Asia-Pacific stocks tracked Wall Street gains, while China held loan prime rates unchanged.

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