NPR.

This is the indicator from Planet Money.

I'm Whalen Wong.

And I'm Darren Woods.

Today, mingling with us once more, our Planet Money, Mucacho, the marvelous Mr. Kenny Malone.

Oh, please. Just, just Kenny Malone. Just, Mr. Kenny Malone was my no need for the honorifics.

It's not really true. Okay, yeah, that's right. Or do we actually need all the honorifics because it is Indicators of the Week.

On today's show, the Senate and Stable Coins, the salt cap sticking point,

and starkly split sentiments on the state of the economy.

That's all after the break.

It is Indicators of the Week, Daryan, here at first.

My indicator is $27.6 trillion.

That's a measure of how much people are using stable coins globally.

Last year, there was $27.6 trillion worth of trading, payments, and transfers on stable coins like Tether.

And I bring this up because the Senate has just passed a bill that might bring special regulation

for these cryptocurrencies for the first time.

Makes sense that there's so much money zipping through the blockchain that maybe some lawmakers

want to put some garb rails on.

Yes. And so a reminder of what stablecoins are.

They are cryptocurrencies whose value is pegged to something else, often the US dollar.

So unlike Bitcoin or ether, whose values fluctuate wildly, you are promised that when you buy

one of these cryptocurrencies, it'll stay basically the same.

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