Financial Stability Board · 2023 · Report · Financial Stability Board
The FSB's finalised international recommendations for regulating global stablecoin arrangements.
Key findings
- Sets 'same activity, same risk, same regulation' as the guiding principle for stablecoins.
- Requires robust governance, redemption rights, and reserve/stabilisation safeguards for GSCs.
European Parliament and Council of the European Union · 2023 · Policy / legal text · Official Journal of the European Union
The EU's comprehensive crypto-asset framework; regulates stablecoins as e-money tokens (EMTs) and asset-referenced tokens (ARTs).
Key findings
- Classifies fiat-pegged stablecoins as e-money tokens (EMTs) and multi-asset/other pegs as asset-referenced tokens (ARTs).
- Requires issuer authorisation, adequately backed reserves, and redemption at par for holders.
- Imposes usage/transaction caps on large non-euro tokens used widely as a means of exchange.
Bank of England · 2023 · Report · Bank of England Discussion Paper
The Bank of England's proposed regime for stablecoins used at systemic scale in UK payments.
Key findings
- Systemic payment stablecoins should be backed by deposits at the central bank (or equivalent high-quality assets).
- Proposes holding limits during a transition to manage financial-stability risks.
CPMI, IOSCO · 2022 · Report · CPMI-IOSCO (BIS)
Confirms that systemically important stablecoin arrangements must meet the international standards for payment systems.
Key findings
- Systemic stablecoin arrangements are expected to observe the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures.
- Emphasises settlement finality, governance and comprehensive risk management.
European Central Bank · 2022 · Report · ECB Macroprudential Bulletin, Issue 18
ECB assessment of stablecoin functions (trading, settlement, DeFi collateral) and their financial-stability risks.
Key findings
- Largest stablecoins are used mainly for crypto trading, settlement and DeFi rather than real-economy payments.
- Reserve opacity and redemption terms are key risks warranting regulation.
Bank for International Settlements · 2022 · Report · BIS Annual Economic Report 2022, Chapter III
The BIS's vision of a future monetary system, assessing stablecoins and crypto against a central-bank-money core.
Key findings
- Argues stablecoins piggyback on the credibility of central-bank money and can fragment the monetary system.
- Positions CBDCs and tokenised central-bank money as the preferred foundation.
Dirk A. Zetzsche, Ross P. Buckley, Douglas W. Arner · 2021 · Journal article · Oxford Journal of Legal Studies
Legal analysis of the regulatory challenges posed by Libra/Diem-style global stablecoins.
Key findings
- A global multi-currency stablecoin raises novel cross-border regulatory-perimeter questions.
- Recommends coordinated, function-based regulation across jurisdictions.
President's Working Group on Financial Markets, FDIC, OCC · 2021 · Policy / legal text · U.S. Department of the Treasury
The landmark US interagency report recommending that payment-stablecoin issuers be regulated as insured depository institutions.
Key findings
- Recommends Congress require payment-stablecoin issuers to be insured depository institutions.
- Identifies run risk, payment-system risk, and systemic risk / concentration of economic power as the principal concerns.
- Set the template for subsequent US stablecoin legislation.
Gary B. Gorton, Jeffery Y. Zhang · 2021 · Working paper · SSRN Working Paper; later University of Chicago Law Review
Argues stablecoins recreate the instability of the 19th-century 'wildcat' free-banking era and proposes regulating issuers like banks or issuing a CBDC.
Key findings
- Privately produced money that does not trade at par 'no-questions-asked' is inherently run-prone, mirroring pre-1863 wildcat banking.
- Recommends either bringing stablecoin issuers under bank-style regulation and insurance, or introducing a central bank digital currency.
- Frames stablecoins as a monetary-stability question, not merely a consumer-protection one.
Douglas Arner, Raphael Auer, Jon Frost · 2020 · Working paper · BIS Working Papers No. 905
A foundational BIS framework classifying stablecoins by design and reserve model and mapping their risks to regulatory options.
Key findings
- Stablecoins span a spectrum from fully reserved tokenised funds to fractional and algorithmic designs, with materially different risk profiles.
- Regulation should follow a 'same risk, same regulation' principle rather than treating all stablecoins alike.
- Global stablecoins raise cross-border, monetary-sovereignty and financial-stability concerns beyond any single jurisdiction.
Dirk Bullmann, Jonas Klemm, Andrea Pinna · 2019 · Working paper · ECB Occasional Paper No. 230
ECB taxonomy of stablecoins by stabilisation mechanism, assessing whether each can deliver price stability.
Key findings
- Classifies stablecoins into tokenised funds, off-chain and on-chain collateralised, and algorithmic types.
- Argues stability depends on the credibility of the stabilisation mechanism and its governance.
G7 Working Group on Stablecoins · 2019 · Report · Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (BIS)
The G7 report that put 'global stablecoins' on the international policy agenda after Libra.
Key findings
- Global stablecoins could pose risks to monetary sovereignty, financial stability and fair competition.
- No global stablecoin should launch until legal, regulatory and oversight challenges are addressed.