How the Stablecoin Milkshake will Redollarize the World | Brent Johnson

Bankless

Technology, Tech News, News

4.7 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 January 2026

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Brent Johnson returns to Bankless to update the Dollar Milkshake Theory and explain why the de-dollarization narrative misses the bigger trend. He argues markets may want out of the dollar, but the Eurodollar system keeps pulling demand back in, and “dollar down” headlines do not break the framework. Brent also covers how debt stress can spill into political instability, why stablecoins and the GENIUS Act could accelerate re-dollarization, and what this means for monetary sovereignty. We close with China’s counter-strategy and how Brent thinks about positioning from here. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/the-defi-report 💰ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watch --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 1:20 De-Dollarizing vs Re-Dollarizing: Milkshake Recap 4:18 What a Sovereign Debt Crisis Actually Means 5:45 Central Banks as “Professional Can-Kickers” 8:56 Can They Slowly Let the Air Out? 11:03 Can AI Productivity Save the System? 13:06 2025 Setup: The Narrative for Dedollarization 18:06 BRICS: Conference Talk vs Structural Reality 23:37 Store of Value vs Medium of Exchange 34:24 “Crisis = Dollar Up” (and the April Exception) 39:06 Stablecoin Redollarization and the GENIUS Act 47:20 Monetary Sovereignty, Faster Bank Runs, Faster Dollarization 52:34 China’s Response: Two Currency Stacks 54:21 Positioning as an Investor --- RESOURCES Brent Johnson https://x.com/SantiagoAuFund The Dollar Milkshake Theory https://research.santiagocapital.com/p/the-dollar-milkshake --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Transcript

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0:00.0	There's no question that there is a quote unquote desire for de-dollarization.
0:04.8	The United States' ability to use the dollar as the global reserve currency has bestowed upon
0:10.6	them this exorbitant privilege, right? And it is true. It's basically global seniorage,
0:17.4	and which is the ability to print money for anything you want, if you want to get real
0:21.4	simple about it. And as a result, that has engendered a number a lot of hate against the United
0:27.9	States' ability to do this. And because the whole world uses the dollar when they operate on
0:33.9	the global stage, the United States can then use the dollar to influence the
0:38.2	economic outcomes of other countries. And there's a number of other countries that don't like
0:44.5	that. So there's a great desire to get out from underneath the thumb or however you want to
0:49.9	define, you know, the dollar is a global reserve currency. But the ability to actually do it
0:56.4	is dramatically different than the desire to do it.
1:03.5	Brent Johnson is the founder of Santiago Capital. He's the creator of the dollar milkshake
1:07.7	theory. He last appeared on bankless. Oh my God, almost five years ago. I can't
1:12.6	believe we've been doing this podcast so long. It's crazy we get to say that as a time reference.
1:16.6	Brent, welcome to Bankless. Thanks for having me back.
1:20.2	All right, first question. It's a high level, but I think it's the subject of the episode. Are we
1:24.2	de-dollarizing or are we re-dollarizing? Well, I think individuals and perhaps certain
1:30.9	entities may be de-dollarizing, but on an overall basis, I believe we are in the process of dollar
1:36.6	rising. You were the father of the dollar milkshake theory. That's what we covered in our episode
1:42.4	five years ago. Can you recap what that idea was in 2021 and how it played out?
1:48.5	Sure.
1:48.8	So essentially, the dollar milkshake theory was really a framework for how I thought a sovereign
	...

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