WSJ's Greg Ip called USDT and USDC "private money," citing data that 84% of illicit crypto activity involves stablecoins and actual payment use is under 1%. He drew parallels to 19th-century free banking and argued the GENIUS Act can't resolve the fundamental tension between private issuance and public payment infrastructure. Coinbase's policy chief Faryar Shirzad fired back: roughly 90% of U.S. M2 is already made up of private liabilities like bank deposits, and the GENIUS Act explicitly requires 1:1 reserves while banning leverage — the historical risks WSJ cited don't apply. The timing is deliberate: Congress needs to pass the bill before August recess. If the GENIUS Act clears, a compliance framework reopens institutional on-ramps into stablecoins. If the WSJ framing shifts even a few lawmakers, the timeline slips. Bitcoin is at $75.98K while this debate plays out — and it's a reminder that the regulatory scaffolding around crypto's dollar layer matters as much as the asset price itself. Who wins the stablecoin narrative war — WSJ's historical caution or Coinbase's modern defense? Just sharing my thoughts. Not financial advice. DYOR. #TheStablecoinDebate #OKXOrbit