IMF Warns About Global Impact of Dollar Stablecoins

Source: CoinTribune Original Title: The IMF warns about the global impact of dollar stablecoins Original Link: https://www.cointribune.com/en/the-imf-warns-about-the-global-impact-of-dollar-stablecoins/

Overview

The IMF has published a comprehensive report titled “Understanding Stablecoins,” providing a thorough analysis of regulatory approaches across the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and the European Union. The key finding reveals a fragmented regulatory landscape where each jurisdiction operates independently without coordinated strategy.

The Fragmentation Problem

The Washington institution has identified a major risk: the proliferation of stablecoins across different blockchains creates “inefficiencies due to a potential lack of interoperability.” This regulatory patchwork, where different countries maintain disparate rules, creates barriers to seamless transactions.

The sector’s two dominant players illustrate this fragmentation clearly:

• USDT (Tether): Holds approximately 75% of collateral in short-term US Treasury bills, supplemented by repos and bank deposits. Notably, it maintains 5% of assets in bitcoin, raising questions about the stability of the “stablecoin” concept itself.

• USDC (Circle): Maintains 40% of reserves in US government securities, following a more conservative reserve strategy.

The recent GENIUS Act, signed in July, has further intensified this fragmentation by imposing strict frameworks for payment stablecoins, causing a notable separation of liquidity between American and European pools.

Beyond Regulation: Systemic Resilience

The IMF’s message represents a departure from traditional regulatory-focused discourse. The institution emphasizes that “strong macroeconomic policies and robust institutions should form the first line of defense.” In essence, regulation alone is insufficient—the foundations of the financial system itself must be strengthened.

This perspective gains relevance when considering market projections. Some analysts suggest stablecoins could reach a valuation of 3 trillion dollars by 2030, potentially forcing the Federal Reserve to reconsider its monetary policy and neutral interest rate. The growing demand for dollar-backed stablecoins is absorbing US Treasury bills at significant scale.

The Dollarization Phenomenon

With more than 99% of the stablecoin market dominated by dollar-backed assets, these instruments are becoming vectors of dollarization for emerging economies, circumventing traditional banking circuits. This phenomenon could weaken monetary policy transmission and alter global macroeconomic balances.

The Call for International Coordination

The IMF emphasizes “international coordination” as essential for addressing these challenges—a coordination currently lacking. While Europe deploys its MiCA regulation, the United States refines the GENIUS Act, and Asia experiments with its own regulatory models, no unified global framework exists.

Conclusion

The IMF has moved beyond passive observation to sound an alarm about regulatory fragmentation. Its core message is unambiguous: without international coordination and without strengthening macroeconomic frameworks, stablecoins risk becoming a factor of instability rather than a controlled financial innovation. The responsibility now rests with global regulators to establish coherent, coordinated responses.