stable coins

Story: BIS Chief Calls Stablecoins Unfit for Payments, Advocates Tokenized Deposits Instead

By Sydney TheCMO

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Tokenized Deposits vs. Stablecoins. The BIS's preferred model — tokenized bank deposits — works differently from a stablecoin.

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Banking Sector Risk and Fragmented Payments. Here's the bigger worry the BIS keeps raising: if deposits start migrating from banks to…

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De Cos, the ECB, and What Comes Next. The political dimension here can't be ignored. De Cos is reportedly seen as a candidate for the…

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Pablo Hernández de Cos doesn't mince words. The head of the Bank for International Settlements said Friday that stablecoins simply aren't a viable foundation for large-scale…

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De Cos made the remarks just before the Jackson Hole symposium on August 28, timing that wasn't accidental.

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The U.S. and Singapore sit on the stricter end, limiting what stablecoin issuers can do — no lending, no staking.

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The BIS's preferred model — tokenized bank deposits — works differently from a stablecoin. They function like traditional bank deposits but circulate digitally, staying inside…

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It's worth noting the U.S. is moving in a different direction. American authorities are actively working on a regulatory framework that would integrate stablecoins into the…

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The BIS isn't dismissing stablecoins entirely. De Cos acknowledged they could help support public debt demand. But he thinks the risks outweigh the benefits.

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Read also: BIS Chief Slams Stablecoins as Unfit for Payments, Advocates for Tokenized Bank Deposits

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Here's the bigger worry the BIS keeps raising: if deposits start migrating from banks to stablecoins at scale, banks lose a critical funding source.

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And that's not the only problem. Stablecoins tend to create fragmented payment ecosystems. Different platforms, different stablecoins, limited interoperability between them — it…

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One regulatory gap the BIS study flagged specifically: most jurisdictions focus oversight on the issuing company itself rather than the entire corporate group it belongs to.

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The political dimension here can't be ignored. De Cos is reportedly seen as a candidate for the European Central Bank's top job, with Christine Lagarde's term up in 2027.

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Whether that project fully addresses the interoperability and AML challenges the BIS keeps flagging is unclear.

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