Stablecoins: framing the debate

Speech by Mr Pablo Hernández de Cos, General Manager of the BIS, at a Bank of Japan seminar, Tokyo, 20 April 2026.

Technological innovation is raising fundamental questions about how money adapts to the digital age. In this context, stablecoins have emerged as privately issued instruments that aspire to serve as a new means of payment and borderless store of value, prompting new regulatory frameworks in many jurisdictions. Stablecoins have several potential use cases and offer attractive technological features which can enable integration with smart contracts and faster cross-border payments. However, the market remains small and structural features constrain their capacity to serve as a means of payment. If widely adopted in their current form, stablecoins would pose policy challenges in areas ranging from credit provision to monetary policy, with risks to financial integrity and regulatory evasion looming large. The way forward calls for coordinated progress along two dimensions: addressing weaknesses in current stablecoin arrangements, especially if they are to be used as a means of payment; and harnessing the benefits of tokenisation by building on the two tier system's ability to preserve singleness. Policymakers should continue to refine regulatory frameworks and strive to avoid global regulatory fragmentation.