In the previous parts of this series, we’ve been looking at the regulation needed in order to encourage the adoption of stablecoins for retail payments (read Part 1 and Part 2 here). 

Notwithstanding the similarities between bank deposits and stablecoins, there are some notable differences. For instance, a stablecoin issuer can allow the stablecoin to be listed on (crypto) exchanges and trading venues. In contrast to stablecoins, bank deposits are not tradable, i.e. there is no secondary market for bank deposits. In practice, issuers of the stablecoins are also operating the exchanges where their stablecoins are traded alongside other cryptoassets. But stablecoins can also be listed on...

Since the first discussions over a global stablecoin started in 2019, international standard-setting bodies have been developing and refining recommendations for the regulation, supervision and oversight of global stablecoin arrangements (FSB 2020 and FSB 2022). In the first blog of this series, we looked at the issuance and redemption of stablecoins, but now we want to focus on the risks and benefits from the opportunity to make payments with stablecoins, and how this should be regulated.

In our two previous blog posts on stablecoins and CBDCs, we have discussed why the speed of market acceptance of stablecoins has constituted a financial stability concern for oversight authorities, pushing them to speed up their discussion around building appropriate legal frameworks to regulate new payment solutions.

We have also explored the acceleration of CBDC discussions in response to the perceived threat to existing currencies that central bankers see in stablecoins.

In the third and final blog post of this series, we highlight that several traditional market players have demonstrated their intention to explore and enter the stablecoin/DeFi space as a competitive response.

The amount...

In our most recent blog post, we explored why the speed of market acceptance of stablecoins has constituted a financial stability concern for oversight authorities, one that has sped up their thinking around the need for a legal framework to regulate novel payment solutions.

Central bankers have also begun to explore alternatives to stablecoins, one particularly notable example being Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC); a digital form of a country’s fiat currency, issued and regulated by the national central bank.

The financial authorities of around 90 countries worldwide - representing 90% of global GDP - are now exploring CBDC issuance and investigating the effect they may have on their...

As anticipated by our CEO, Rhom Ram, in his 2021 September blog post 'Are Stablecoins a threat to Capital Markets Incumbents?', the speed of market acceptance of stablecoins has been remarkably quick and therefore constitutes a financial stability concern for regulators.

As legislative frameworks are currently under construction, stablecoin arrangements - particularly because they depend on the receipt of fiat currency to issue corresponding digital tokens in exchange - look soon to be fully treated like depositary institutions.

Unlike a stablecoin, each Fnality Payment System doesn’t create or issue novel payment instruments, but is instead designed to be the 'system operator' of assets...

Digitisation and new technologies, like DLT and blockchain, are rapidly innovating the wholesale financial market industry.

Every day a new type of asset becomes ‘tokenised’ (i.e., represented digitally on a distributed ledger), from financial products (e.g., repurchase agreements, fixed income, equities) to any sort of tradable assets (e.g., real estate, IP royalties… forests!) shaping the future tokenised financial markets and potentially creating novel business cases whose magnitude is still hard to define.

At the same time, execution of transactions in existing markets, such as equities, fixed income, FX and derivatives have seen incredible digital automation.

However, post-trade...

At Fnality, we are often asked questions along the lines of 'How would new forms of digital money alter your value proposition?’ or 'Where does Fnality 'fit' in a future world with CBDC?'

Improving cross-border payments has become a top agenda item of global policy makers. The G20 has made “enhancing cross-border payments” a priority in 2019, and it continues to be a priority for 2021 under the Italian G20 presidency. The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has launched an extensive roadmap last year, as well: “Faster, cheaper, more transparent and more inclusive cross-border payment services, including remittances, while maintaining their safety and security, would have widespread benefits for citizens and economies worldwide”. In fact, this October the FSB published measurable targets for addressing four key challenges in cross-border payments: cost, speed, access and...

Traditionally, the functions of financial market infrastructure (which includes payment systems) have been centrally administered and operated by a single entity. There is a growing movement within the wholesale financial market towards decentralisation in order to reduce reliance on centralised intermediaries and “unlock billions in capital and liquidity”. Decentralisation is at the core of our design principles at Fnality. Both the technology underpinning the Fnality Payment System (‘FnPS’) and our organisational design are based on the concept of decentralisation. There will be no ‘single point of failure’ should a server go down or ‘single point of attack’ from malicious actors...