Aly Soliman
Stablecoins have emerged as an innovative form of money in the financial landscape. While they represent a small fraction of the global financial system, stablecoins have grown by US$30 billion in the last few months (as reported on DefiLlama). The potential effect of stablecoins on the payment industry could be substantial and merits attention.
Continue reading “With the arrival of stablecoins, is it time to pay farewell to traditional payment rails?”David Rule and Iain de Weymarn
Technologies such as distributed ledgers create the possibility of new forms of digital money, whether privately-issued ‘stable coins’, tokenised commercial bank deposits, or central bank digital currencies. Authorities are considering a world where digital money circulates alongside existing forms of money. In the past, the nature of money has often changed. Prior to the late-seventeenth century, English money comprised predominantly silver coin and in the subsequent two centuries mainly gold coin, before evolving to include paper banknotes and bank accounts linked to card, internet and app-based payment systems. But what can a previous period when money changed – 1695–97, when paper money first began to circulate alongside coin – tell us about the possible transition to digital money?Â
Continue reading “New money, old money”