Hong Kong / Washington D.C. — The race between the U.S. and China is now extending to cryptocurrencies, as the two economic giants explore digital finance as a strategic battleground.
Following a recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, U.S. President Donald Trump emphasized America’s leadership ambitions in the crypto space. “I wanna make crypto great for America,” Trump told CBS News. “The same way we’re number one with AI, we’re number one with crypto. And I wanna keep it that way.”
Trump’s remarks coincide with China signaling renewed crypto ambitions. While domestic crypto transactions have been banned in mainland China since 2021, Hong Kong maintains a managed system encouraging digital asset development. Last Monday, the city eased restrictions on licensed virtual asset trading platforms, allowing direct access to global crypto exchanges and listing of new digital assets and Hong Kong-regulated stablecoins without a 12-month track record requirement.
The announcement coincided with Hong Kong’s 10th FinTech Week, positioning the city as a growing gateway for crypto innovation in Asia. Over 60% of stablecoins are now deployed on the Ethereum network, according to Ethereum Foundation co-executive director Tomasz K. Stańczak, and the majority of FinTech Week attendees were from traditional finance, reflecting increasing institutional interest in digital assets.
Major conferences are following suit: Consensus, North America’s largest crypto conference, expanded to Hong Kong this year and plans a return in 2026. Hong Kong also became one of the first Asian markets to approve spot ether ETFs, closely following U.S. precedent.
Despite the growing ecosystem, digital assets remain smaller than traditional markets. The total cryptocurrency market is valued under $4.5 trillion, far below global stock markets at $101.5 trillion. Bitcoin recently dipped below $100,000 amid trade tensions and volatile AI stock valuations, though crypto-focused funds report strong long-term gains.
The Next Frontier: Stablecoins and Digital Currency Competition
The U.S.-China rivalry is increasingly focusing on stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Hong Kong’s recent push into stablecoins mirrors U.S. legislation supporting dollar-pegged stablecoins, while Beijing continues promoting the digital yuan to expand its financial influence.
“Both are striving to expand their own currency usage to build up their respective global user ecosystem,” said Winston Ma, adjunct law professor at NYU.
However, adoption remains a challenge: the digital yuan has yet to reach mainstream use, and U.S. dollar stablecoins may face similar hurdles. Bitcoin mining remains dominated by the U.S., China, and Russia, highlighting China’s continuing role in the crypto ecosystem.
Trump, who reportedly owns about $870 million in bitcoin, is unlikely to overlook this emerging arena, signaling that the U.S.-China competition in digital finance and crypto is only just beginning.