Wall Street Journal: Stablecoins Essentially "Private Money" That Could Pose Risks to the Financial System

Odaily Planet Daily News Although the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act are pushing for stablecoin compliance, stablecoins remain essentially "private money" and could introduce structural risks to the financial system.

The article points out that stablecoins aim to combine the stability of the US dollar with the payment efficiency of blockchain, but because they operate on fragmented, privatized infrastructure, they lack the uniformity of the traditional dollar system. While USDT and USDC are pegged to the US dollar, their prices can still deviate from $1.

Additionally, stablecoin issuers have incentives to boost yields by allocating capital to high-risk, low-liquidity assets. Should the value of these assets decline, it could trigger de-pegging and concentrated redemption risks. Citing Chainalysis data, the article states that stablecoins account for 84% of illicit crypto activity, primarily involving sanctions evasion and money laundering, while their use in real economy payments accounts for less than 1%.

The Wall Street Journal argues that stablecoins are essentially repeating the path of the private money experiments seen during the "Free Banking Era" in 19th-century America. In the future, they may need to accept stricter regulation, similar to banks, and require deeper integration into the central banking system. (Wall Street Journal)