I think "regulatory arbitrage" still fits here, though maybe not in the sense people assume. The GENIUS Act and MiCA don't eliminate arbitrage. They codify it. Stablecoins are now regulated under frameworks that look very different from those governing banks, payment networks, or money market funds. That difference is the arbitrage.

And crucially, the reason to use crypto rails here is a legal one, not a technical one. There's no throughput, cost, or reliability advantage over existing centralized systems. Quite the opposite. What crypto offers is access to a regulatory regime designed through heavy industry lobbying, one that e.g. doesn't even require full 1:1 low-risk asset backing. That would never fly in traditional finance.

None of this implies illegitimacy. Regulatory arbitrage can be perfectly legal. But it does mean the uptake isn't about technological superiority. It's about governments creating a parallel rulebook after sustained lobbying pressure. That distinction seems important to keep in mind.