Asian Consumers Could Soon Be Paying With Stablecoins
Singapore and Hong Kong want to license blockchain tokens in an effort to make them useful in everyday life.
Finding a purpose for stablecoins.
Photographer: NurPhoto/Getty Images
In the decade that they have been around as an asset class, crypto stablecoins, which advertise tranquility in an ocean of tumult, have hardly lived up to their billing. Not one out of the 68 tokens studied by researchers at the Bank for International Settlements has managed to stay on its peg at all times.
Tether and USD Coin, the two largest players, reference their values 1:1 to the dollar, which enables them to act as a bridge of sorts between virtual and real-world representations of money. However, they have very little use outside the domain of crypto trading. For the broader population that doesn’t dabble in Bitcoin or Ether, keeping money in a bank that has deposit insurance has always been a safer option.