IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ecb/ecbops/2019230.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

In search for stability in crypto-assets: are stablecoins the solution?

Author

Listed:
  • Bullmann, Dirk
  • Klemm, Jonas
  • Pinna, Andrea

Abstract

Stablecoins claim to stabilise the value of major currencies in the volatile crypto-asset market. This paper describes the often complex functioning of different types of stablecoins and proposes a taxonomy of stablecoin initiatives. To this end it relies on a novel framework for their classification, based on the key dimensions that matter for crypto-assets, namely: (i) accountability of issuer, (ii) decentralisation of responsibilities, and (iii) what underpins the value of the asset. The analysis of different types of stablecoins shows a trade-off between the novelty of the stabilisation mechanism used in an initiative (from mirroring the traditional electronic money approach to the alleged introduction of an “algorithmic central bank”) and its capacity to maintain a stable market value. While relatively less innovative stablecoins could provide a solution to users seeking a stable store of value, especially if legitimised by the adherence to standards that are typical of payment services, the jury is still out on the potential future role of more innovative stablecoins outside their core user base. JEL Classification: E42, L17, O33

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbops:2019230
    Note: 3679451
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ecb.europa.eu//pub/pdf/scpops/ecb.op230~d57946be3b.en.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ciaian, Pavel & Rajcaniova, Miroslava & Kancs, d'Artis, 2018. "Virtual relationships: Short- and long-run evidence from BitCoin and altcoin markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 173-195.
    2. Corbet, Shaen & Meegan, Andrew & Larkin, Charles & Lucey, Brian & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2018. "Exploring the dynamic relationships between cryptocurrencies and other financial assets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 28-34.
    3. Andrew Burnie, 2018. "Exploring the Interconnectedness of Cryptocurrencies using Correlation Networks," Papers 1806.06632, arXiv.org.
    4. John Williamson, 1995. "What Role of Currency Boards?," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number pa40, October.
    5. Yi, Shuyue & Xu, Zishuang & Wang, Gang-Jin, 2018. "Volatility connectedness in the cryptocurrency market: Is Bitcoin a dominant cryptocurrency?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 98-114.
    6. Svensson, Lars E O, 1999. "Price-Level Targeting versus Inflation Targeting: A Free Lunch?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 31(3), pages 277-295, August.
    7. Ruttenberg, Wiebe & Pinna, Andrea, 2016. "Distributed ledger technologies in securities post-trading - Revolution or evolution?," Occasional Paper Series 172, European Central Bank.
    8. Taylor, John B., 1993. "Discretion versus policy rules in practice," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 195-214, December.
    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. Achraf Ghorbel & Ahmed Jeribi, 2021. "Investigating the relationship between volatilities of cryptocurrencies and other financial assets," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 44(2), pages 817-843, December.
    2. BRIK, Hatem & El OUAKDI, Jihene & FTITI, Zied, 2022. "Roles of stable versus nonstable cryptocurrencies in Bitcoin market dynamics," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    3. Yaya, OlaOluwa S. & Ogbonna, Ahamuefula E. & Olubusoye, Olusanya E., 2019. "How persistent and dynamic inter-dependent are pricing of Bitcoin to other cryptocurrencies before and after 2017/18 crash?," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 531(C).
    4. Helder Miguel Correia Virtuoso Sebastião & Paulo José Osório Rupino Da Cunha & Pedro Manuel Cortesão Godinho, 2021. "Cryptocurrencies and blockchain. Overview and future perspectives," International Journal of Economics and Business Research, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 21(3), pages 305-342.
    5. Caporale, Guglielmo Maria & Kang, Woo-Young & Spagnolo, Fabio & Spagnolo, Nicola, 2021. "Cyber-attacks, spillovers and contagion in the cryptocurrency markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    6. Syed Jawad Hussain Shahzad & Elie Bouri & Sang Hoon Kang & Tareq Saeed, 2021. "Regime specific spillover across cryptocurrencies and the role of COVID-19," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-24, December.
    7. Bazán-Palomino, Walter, 2022. "Interdependence, contagion and speculative bubbles in cryptocurrency markets," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    8. Omane-Adjepong, Maurice & Alagidede, Imhotep Paul, 2019. "Multiresolution analysis and spillovers of major cryptocurrency markets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 191-206.
    9. Vidal-Tomás, David, 2021. "The entry and exit dynamics of the cryptocurrency market," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    10. Demiralay, Sercan & Golitsis, Petros, 2021. "On the dynamic equicorrelations in cryptocurrency market," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 524-533.
    11. Kumar, Ashish & Iqbal, Najaf & Mitra, Subrata Kumar & Kristoufek, Ladislav & Bouri, Elie, 2022. "Connectedness among major cryptocurrencies in standard times and during the COVID-19 outbreak," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    12. Hu, Yang & Hou, Yang (Greg) & Oxley, Les & Corbet, Shaen, 2021. "Does blockchain patent-development influence Bitcoin risk?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    13. Ladislav Kristoufek, 2022. "On the role of stablecoins in cryptoasset pricing dynamics," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-26, December.
    14. Charfeddine, Lanouar & Benlagha, Noureddine & Khediri, Karim Ben, 2022. "An intra-cryptocurrency analysis of volatility connectedness and its determinants: Evidence from mining coins, non-mining coins and tokens," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    15. Demir, Ender & Simonyan, Serdar & García-Gómez, Conrado-Diego & Lau, Chi Keung Marco, 2021. "The asymmetric effect of bitcoin on altcoins: evidence from the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    16. Hsu, Shu-Han & Sheu, Chwen & Yoon, Jiho, 2021. "Risk spillovers between cryptocurrencies and traditional currencies and gold under different global economic conditions," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    17. Bazán-Palomino, Walter, 2021. "How are Bitcoin forks related to Bitcoin?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    18. Assaf, Ata & Charif, Husni & Demir, Ender, 2022. "Information sharing among cryptocurrencies: Evidence from mutual information and approximate entropy during COVID-19," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PA).
    19. Assaf, Ata & Bilgin, Mehmet Huseyin & Demir, Ender, 2022. "Using transfer entropy to measure information flows between cryptocurrencies," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 586(C).
    20. Bouri, Elie & Gabauer, David & Gupta, Rangan & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar, 2021. "Volatility connectedness of major cryptocurrencies: The role of investor happiness," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    crypto-assets; distributed ledger technology; electronic money; stablecoins;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • L17 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Open Source Products and Markets
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    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:ecb:ecbops:2019230. 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: Official Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/emieude.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.