BIS chief questions stablecoins at payment scale
- BIS General Manager Pablo Hernández de Cos said stablecoins lack credibility for payments at scale.
- He warned stablecoins could raise bank funding costs if users shift deposits into tokens.
- De Cos said tokenised bank deposits offer a stronger route for using tokenisation in payments.
BIS General Manager Pablo Hernández de Cos said stablecoins lack credibility as payment tools at scale.
He said tokenised bank deposits could offer a stronger alternative while preserving the existing monetary system.
“Tokenised deposits offer a more direct path to harness tokenisation while preserving the monetary system’s foundations,” de Cos said.
De Cos said moving bank deposits into stablecoins could increase banks’ funding costs and raise borrowing costs for customers.
He also cited limited interoperability and difficulties applying anti-money laundering controls consistently across stablecoin platforms.
De Cos said wider use of US dollar-pegged stablecoins outside the US could weaken domestic monetary policy and monetary sovereignty.
A new BIS-linked Financial Stability Institute study also found major differences in stablecoin issuer rules across the US, EU, UK, Hong Kong and Singapore.
