In this presentation, which I delivered at the Bank of England, I explore stablecoins beyond narrow banking – and what it would take to reconnect money and credit onchain.
stablecoins-beyond-narrow-banking-lombard-notes
from
Giorgio Giuliani
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Stablecoins appear easy to monetise. They are not. This note looks at the few models that can scale sustainably.
Stablecoins are, in essence, the first large-scale experiment in narrow banking. Every USDC or USDT is (or supposed to be) fully backed by reserves – cash or short-term Treasuries – sitting safely off-chain. This architecture is what makes these tokens stable, but it also sterilizes capital: every dollar deposited creates no new credit, no new economic activity. In contrast, the...
Circle’s S-1 filing offers a window into the economics of the stablecoin industry.
The post dig deeper into Circle’s current success and explore if the same model can survive a changing financial topology.
Stablecoins, led by Tether (USDT) and USDC, now total $180 billion, with new entrants like yield-bearing stablecoins, PayPal's PYUSD, Agora and M0 trying to disrupt the market.
While USDT and USDC dominate, blockchain’s true potential could lead to disruptive changes in the future of money.
In Roman mythology, Janus was the god of beginnings, transitions, and endings. He was depicted as having two faces looking in opposite directions, symbolizing his ability to look both to the future and the past. Janus offers the perfect metaphor to solve one of the most important pieces of crypto infrastructure: on/off-ramp. In the context of crypto, an on/off-ramp refers to the channels through...