IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/b/bis/bisbps/141.html

Will the real stablecoin please stand up?

Author

Listed:
  • Anneke Kosse
  • Marc Glowka
  • Ilaria Mattei
  • Tara Rice

Abstract

Stablecoins are a subcategory of cryptoassets that aim (or claim) to maintain a stable value relative to a specified peg. This paper provides an overview of the evolution of the stablecoin market over the past decade and examines whether stablecoins have stayed true to their name in terms of being "stable". We study 68 stablecoins and show that not one of them has been able to maintain parity with its peg at all times. This is irrespective of their size or type of backing. Moreover, we argue that there is currently no guarantee that stablecoin issuers could redeem users' stablecoins in full and on demand. For these reasons, we conclude that the stablecoins in circulation today do not meet the key criteria for being a safe store of value and a trustworthy means of payment in the real economy. This paper also highlights some significant data gaps. Without further data on the uses and users of stablecoins, it is difficult to ascertain the risks of stablecoins to the smooth functioning of payment systems and financial stability more broadly.

Suggested Citation

  • Anneke Kosse & Marc Glowka & Ilaria Mattei & Tara Rice, 2023. "Will the real stablecoin please stand up?," BIS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 141, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bis:bisbps:141
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.bis.org/publ/bppdf/bispap141.pdf
    File Function: Full PDF document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.bis.org/publ/bppdf/bispap141.htm
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cameron MacDonald & Laura Zhao, 2022. "Stablecoins and Their Risks to Financial Stability," Discussion Papers 2022-20, Bank of Canada.
    2. Anneke Kosse & Ilaria Mattei, 2023. "Making headway - Results of the 2022 BIS survey on central bank digital currencies and crypto," BIS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 136, November.
    3. Lyons, Richard K. & Viswanath-Natraj, Ganesh, 2023. "What keeps stablecoins stable?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rashad Ahmed & Iñaki Aldasoro, 2025. "Stablecoins and safe asset prices," BIS Working Papers 1270, Bank for International Settlements.
    2. Eleni Koutrouli & Polychronis Manousopoulos, 2025. "Exploring the Use of Crypto-Assets for Payments," FinTech, MDPI, vol. 4(2), pages 1-30, April.
    3. Bidder, Dr Rhys, 2026. "Money and Payments Infrastructure: understanding the plumbing," Quarterly Bulletin Articles, Central Bank of Ireland, pages 1-52, March.
    4. van Buggenum, Hugo & Gersbach, Hans & Zelzner, Sebastian, 2023. "Contagious Stablecoins?," CEPR Discussion Papers 18521, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    5. Iñaki Aldasoro & Jon Frost & Hiro Ito, 2026. "The impact of stablecoins on the international monetary and financial system," BIS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 170, November.
    6. Stijn Claessens & Tara Rice, 2026. "Cross-border payment technologies: innovations and challenges," BIS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 167, May.
    7. Iñaki Aldasoro & Matteo Aquilina & Ulf Lewrick & Sang Hyuk Lim, 2025. "Stablecoin growth - policy challenges and approaches," BIS Bulletins 108, Bank for International Settlements.
    8. Dionysopoulos, Lambis & Urquhart, Andrew, 2024. "10 years of stablecoins: Their impact, what we know, and future research directions," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    9. Coste, Charles-Enguerrand, 2024. "Toss a stablecoin to your banker - Stablecoins’ impact on banks’ balance sheets and prudential ratios," Occasional Paper Series 353, European Central Bank.
    10. Philippe Bergault & Louis Bertucci & David Bouba & Olivier Gu'eant & Julien Guilbert, 2024. "Automated Market Making: the case of Pegged Assets," Papers 2411.08145, arXiv.org.
    11. Ferrari Minesso, Massimo & Siena, Daniele, 2026. "Private money and public debt. U.S. Stablecoins and the global safe asset channel," Working Paper Series 3174, European Central Bank.
    12. Kees van Hee & Anneke Kosse & Peter Wierts & Jacob Wijngaard, 2025. "Let's speak the same language: a formally defined model to describe and compare payment system architectures," BIS Working Papers 1259, Bank for International Settlements.
    13. Jon Frost & Jean-Charles Rochet & Huyn Song Shin & Marianne Verdier, 2025. "Competing digital monies," Working Papers hal-05081338, HAL.
    14. Lala AlAsadi & Oluwasegun Bewaji & Aayush Gugnani & Tarush Gupta & Ronald Heijmans, 2025. "An econometric investigation on the stability of stablecoins: Are these coins stable or is their stability just a flip of the coin?," Working Papers 846, DNB.
    15. Alberto Di Iorio & Anneke Kosse & Ilaria Mattei, 2024. "Embracing diversity, advancing together - results of the 2023 BIS survey on central bank digital currencies and crypto," BIS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 147, May.
    16. Carlos Cantú & Cecilia Franco & Jon Frost, 2024. "The Economic Implications of Services in the Metaverse," Springer Books, in: Hung-Yi Chen & Pawee Jenweeranon & Nafis Alam (ed.), Global Perspectives in the Metaverse, chapter 0, pages 83-118, Springer.
    17. Kreuzer, Christian & Laschinger, Ralf & Priberny, Christopher & Benninghoff, Sven, 2024. "Cryptocurrencies as a vehicle for capital exodus: Evidence from the Russian–Ukrainian crisis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 69(PB).
    18. Anamaria Illes & Anneke Kosse & Peter Wierts, 2025. "Advancing in tandem - results of the 2024 BIS survey on central bank digital currencies and crypto," BIS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 159, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tuna Can Güleç & Elif Erer & Selim Duramaz, 2026. "Cryptocurrencies as shock transmitters: dynamic connectedness, hedging strategies, and portfolio management across financial markets for higher-order moments," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 12(1), pages 1-58, December.
    2. Tingyi Lin, 2026. "A Blessing in Disguise? DeFi Exploits and Short-Horizon Responses in U.S. Commercial Paper Spreads," Papers 2601.08263, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2026.
    3. Ren, Yi-Shuai & Ma, Chaoqun & Wang, Yiran, 2024. "A new financial regulatory framework for digital finance: Inspired by CBDC," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    4. Srichander Ramaswamy, 2024. "Could Uncapped and Unremunerated Retail CBDC Accounts Disintermediate Banks?," Working Papers wp52, South East Asian Central Banks (SEACEN) Research and Training Centre.
    5. Joerg Mayer, 2024. "De-dollarization: the global payment infrastructure and wholesale central bank digital currencies," FMM Working Paper 102-2024, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    6. Ravi Kashyap, 2023. "DeFi Security: Turning The Weakest Link Into The Strongest Attraction," Papers 2312.00033, arXiv.org.
    7. Ozili, Peterson K, 2024. "Artificial intelligence and central bank digital currency," MPRA Paper 121567, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Lee, Yi-Hsi & Chiu, Yu-Fen & Hsieh, Ming-Hua, 2025. "Stablecoin depegging risk prediction," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    9. Cupak, Andrej & Gertler, Pavel & Hajdiak, Daniel & Klacso, Ján & Rychtárik, Štefan, 2026. "Determinants of digital euro adoption: The role of political orientation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    10. Wenbin Wu & Can Liu, 2026. "Stability Anchors and Risk Amplifiers: Tail Spillovers Across Stablecoin Designs," Papers 2602.18820, arXiv.org.
    11. Canh Phuc Nguyen & Nguyen Doan & Luis Chavez-Bedoya & Tam Hoang Nhat Dang & Hien Duy Phan, 2026. "Introducing a new index of central bank digital currency development," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 3675-3709, April.
    12. Philippe Bergault & Louis Bertucci & David Bouba & Olivier Gu'eant & Julien Guilbert, 2024. "Automated Market Making: the case of Pegged Assets," Papers 2411.08145, arXiv.org.
    13. Vanhoudt Patrick, 2026. "Anchoring Europe’s Monetary Future: Why a Wholesale Digital Euro Is the Immediate Priority," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Paradigm, vol. 61(2), pages 73-80.
    14. Hui, Cho-Hoi & Wong, Andrew & Lo, Chi-Fai, 2025. "Stablecoin price dynamics under a peg-stabilising mechanism," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    15. Ayuba Napari, 2026. "Hayekian currency competition prior to and after cryptocurrencies: a critical review," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 1-26, May.
    16. Luca Beltrametti & Giovanni Battista Pittaluga, 2023. "Monetary Policy Implications of Stablecoins and CBDCs," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 76(3), pages 453-478.
    17. Meghna Jayasankar, 2025. "Efficient Market Hypothesis Versus Multifractality: Evidence from the Stablecoin Market," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 66(6), pages 5033-5054, December.
    18. Kashyap, Ravi, 2024. "The Democratization of Wealth Management: Hedged Mutual Fund Blockchain Protocol," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    19. Dumitrescu Constantin Cătălin, 2025. "Demystifying Consumers’ Adoption of a Digital Euro in the Euro Area," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Paradigm, vol. 19(1), pages 2887-2910.
    20. Dunbar, Kwamie & Treku, Daniel N., 2024. "Examining the impact of a central bank digital currency on the access to banking," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bis:bisbps:141. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Martin Fessler (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bisssch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.