IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2508.02403.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

SoK: Stablecoins for Digital Transformation -- Design, Metrics, and Application with Real World Asset Tokenization as a Case Study

Author

Listed:
  • Luyao Zhang

Abstract

Stablecoins have become a foundational component of the digital asset ecosystem, with their market capitalization exceeding 230 billion USD as of May 2025. As fiat-referenced and programmable assets, stablecoins provide low-latency, globally interoperable infrastructure for payments, decentralized finance, DeFi, and tokenized commerce. Their accelerated adoption has prompted extensive regulatory engagement, exemplified by the European Union's Markets in Crypto-assets Regulation, MiCA, the US Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, GENIUS Act, and Hong Kong's Stablecoins Bill. Despite this momentum, academic research remains fragmented across economics, law, and computer science, lacking a unified framework for design, evaluation, and application. This study addresses that gap through a multi-method research design. First, it synthesizes cross-disciplinary literature to construct a taxonomy of stablecoin systems based on custodial structure, stabilization mechanism, and governance. Second, it develops a performance evaluation framework tailored to diverse stakeholder needs, supported by an open-source benchmarking pipeline to ensure transparency and reproducibility. Third, a case study on Real World Asset tokenization illustrates how stablecoins operate as programmable monetary infrastructure in cross-border digital systems. By integrating conceptual theory with empirical tools, the paper contributes: a unified taxonomy for stablecoin design; a stakeholder-oriented performance evaluation framework; an empirical case linking stablecoins to sectoral transformation; and reproducible methods and datasets to inform future research. These contributions support the development of trusted, inclusive, and transparent digital monetary infrastructure.

Suggested Citation

  • Luyao Zhang, 2025. "SoK: Stablecoins for Digital Transformation -- Design, Metrics, and Application with Real World Asset Tokenization as a Case Study," Papers 2508.02403, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2508.02403
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2508.02403
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lin William Cong & Ke Tang & Yanxin Wang & Xi Zhao, 2023. "Inclusion and Democratization Through Web3 and DeFi? Initial Evidence from the Ethereum Ecosystem," NBER Working Papers 30949, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Bullmann, Dirk & Klemm, Jonas & Pinna, Andrea, 2019. "In search for stability in crypto-assets: are stablecoins the solution?," Occasional Paper Series 230, European Central Bank.
    3. Lyons, Richard K. & Viswanath-Natraj, Ganesh, 2023. "What keeps stablecoins stable?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    4. Cangshu Li & Yan Shen, 2021. "The potential impacts and risks of global stablecoins," China Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 39-51, January.
    5. Christian Catalini & Alonso de Gortari & Nihar Shah, 2022. "Some Simple Economics of Stablecoins," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 117-135, November.
    6. Katrin Schuler & Ann Sofie Cloots & Fabian Schär, 2024. "On DeFi and On-Chain CeFi: How (Not) to Regulate Decentralized Finance," Journal of Financial Regulation, Oxford University Press, vol. 10(2), pages 213-242.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Gregory, Gadzinski & Alessio, Castello & Vito, Liuzzi & Patrice, Sargenti, 2024. "Break a peg! A study of stablecoin co-instability," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    2. Oefele, Nico & Baur, Dirk G. & Smales, Lee A., 2024. "Are stablecoins the money market mutual funds of the future?," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    3. Dionysopoulos, Lambis & Urquhart, Andrew, 2024. "10 years of stablecoins: Their impact, what we know, and future research directions," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    4. Lee, Yi-Hsi & Chiu, Yu-Fen & Hsieh, Ming-Hua, 2025. "Stablecoin depegging risk prediction," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    5. Fernando TEIXEIRA & Susana Soares Pinheiro Vieira PESCADA & Christos Ap. LADIAS & Murat HULAJ & Filipos RUXHO & Valter MACHADO, 2025. "Stablecoin Dp2p: Innovation And Sustainability In Fiat Currencies," Regional Science Inquiry, Hellenic Association of Regional Scientists, vol. 0(1), pages 95-106, June.
    6. Rashad Ahmed & Iñaki Aldasoro, 2025. "Stablecoins and safe asset prices," BIS Working Papers 1270, Bank for International Settlements.
    7. Saengchote, Kanis & Samphantharak, Krislert, 2024. "Digital money creation and algorithmic stablecoin run," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    8. Shah, Anand & Bahri, Anu, 2023. "Tokenomics: How “Risky” are the Stablecoins?," MPRA Paper 119646, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Giorgio Abate & Nicola Branzoli & Raffaele Gallo, 2023. "Crypto-Asset Markets: Structure, Market Developments in 2022 and Policy Considerations," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 76(3), pages 353-386.
    10. Force, ECB Crypto Assets Task, 2020. "Stablecoins: Implications for monetary policy, financial stability, market infrastructure and payments, and banking supervision in the euro area," Occasional Paper Series 247, European Central Bank.
    11. Alexander Lipton & Aetienne Sardon & Fabian Schar & Christian Schupbach, 2020. "From Tether to Libra: Stablecoins, Digital Currency and the Future of Money," Papers 2005.12949, arXiv.org.
    12. Joshua S. Gans, 2024. "Cryptic Regulation of Crypto-Tokens," Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(1), pages 139-163.
    13. 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.
    14. Friedrich Thießen, 2021. "Digitaler Euro: Funktionsweise und kritische Würdigung [The Digital Euro: Functionality and Critical Appraisal]," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 101(7), pages 529-535, July.
    15. Andrey Urusov & Rostislav Berezovskiy & Yury Yanovich, 2024. "Backtesting Framework for Concentrated Liquidity Market Makers on Uniswap V3 Decentralized Exchange," Papers 2410.09983, arXiv.org.
    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. Dean Fantazzini & Elena Korobova, 2025. "Stablecoins and credit risk: when do they stop being stable?," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 77, pages 46-73.
    18. Djogbenou, Antoine & Inan, Emre & Jasiak, Joann, 2023. "Time-varying coefficient DAR model and stability measures for stablecoin prices: An application to Tether," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    19. Schuler, Katrin & Nadler, Matthias & Schär, Fabian, 2023. "Contagion and loss redistribution in crypto asset markets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    20. Oefele, Nico & Baur, Dirk G. & Smales, Lee A., 2024. "Flight-to-quality—Money market mutual funds and stablecoins during the March 2023 banking crisis," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:arx:papers:2508.02403. 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: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    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.