The following is a guest message and an opinion of Dr Jae S. Jeong,, Co-founder and CTO, Gurufin.
Today’s stablescoins are an extension of the American financial system. Supported by the US dollar, they are linked to its monetary policy and indirectly responsible for its political objectives. This allegiance is useful for some, but not everyone. Here is why.
A myth in the world of digital assets is the idea that ultimately, only one digital currency will dominate world payments and trade. With the Stablecoins, supporters of this myth underlined the US dollar, with its deep liquidity and global status, as a natural springboard.
There is a widespread belief that American -haired stabbed will inevitably become the main layer of digital regulation in the world. But a more in -depth examination of economic realities in the field in Asia suggests that a very different future takes shape: a motivated future not by global ambitions, but by the practical and pressing needs of local economies.
The shadow of the dollar
It is a question of practicality and national interest. The various needs of Asian nations will promote a range of local currency staboins, allowing central bankers to go to bed against a digital financial system labeled in dollars.
Today, the digital asset ecosystem is indeed thrown into the shadow of the dollar. Stablecoins Pegged USD as USDT and USDC dominate the volume of trading, acting as a digital gateway to cryptographic markets. Since the American elections of 2024, support has increased, in particular for models holding the debt of the American government as reserves.
This status quo Works well for the United States and supporters of this myth. However, there are those who send a glance under the shadow of the dollar.
The first reason has nothing to do with digital assets. Overlooks treasury enriched As the commercial and tariff policy looked at. Non -American companies and governments still have treasury bills, but the assessment of their risk has changed. This change can be seen in the increase in the central bank gold reserves.
Secondly, the American allies of Europe in Southeast Asia rethink the advantages of linking their trade and monetary policies in America. Dollarization, or the local savings process that depended on the US dollar, has always been an edifying story on emerging markets. The Asian financial crisis was precipitated by the gap In Asian companies borrowing in US dollars and gaining income in local currencies. Now, the stables of the US dollar are considered in many emerging savings such as the fast way of dollarization.
This alludes to the third problem, namely that monetary policy must be in service for local economic growth. Developed as a national rejuvenation tool, modern central banks need instruments that they can control in favor of their constituents.
By adopting stables of the US dollar, central bankers in emerging savings – in particular, but not exclusively, in Asia – will lose the ability to use their exchange rate as a tool to absorb external shocks, especially when they occur in the American economic cycle.
The international regulations bank has already highlighted the risk of “currency substitution”. Financial regulators outside the United States understand the difference between this reality and the myth of dollar domination.
Pluralism at the shield
Emerging Asian savings can take advantage of the desire for stablecoins to strengthen their local monetary force. Central bankers must separate the advantages of cheaper, faster 24/7 payment rails than stalls provide assets lengled in dollars which have so often been their reserves.
Some are already entering this moment. The Singapore monetary authority has finalized a regulatory framework for currency stables. This clear licenses granting path supports the issuance of a stablecoin fixed to the Singapore dollar, allowing corporate treasurers to take it for faster and cheaper settlement for commercial payments and rationalize cross -border payments in the region.
The Japanese updated payment services law allows approved banks and trust companies to issue stablescoins supported by yen. In response, SBI, Circle, Ripple and Startale recently announced its intention to jointly launch a Stablecoin on the back of Yen. Monex and the local fintech, Jpyc, also provide local stables.
For the Philippines, stablecoins are an immediate solution at high expense and at slow speeds of $ 3 billion per month sending. A owner of a small business can now accept payments from foreign customers using a regulated stablecoin, instantly bypassing card network costs and receiving funds in a few minutes.
By developing and regulating their own local currency stable stables, Asian central banks can keep control of their financial systems and actively shape the digital future, rather than simply reacting. This model can be reproduced in the deep commercial corridors of Asia, allowing a network of interoperable stables to accelerate the regulations and reduce dependence on the US dollar in intra-situ trade.
The opportunity is even more attractive for the main commercial houses in Asia. Many Asian economies in the 20th century are modern around a small number of main conglomerates. In Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Philippines and India, these conglomerates benefit from strong local stablecoins which can reduce friction in the flow of goods and capital between Asian companies.
Even local merchants and small and medium -sized enterprises are to be won. Stablecoins allow merchants to get around the costs and the risk of regulating traditional card network.
Next chapter of stablecoins
Stablecoins are an extension of the American monetary system, but they don’t have to be.
Central bankers and financial regulators from Pakistan to Korea struggle to authorize the best parts of Stablecoin’s innovation in their economies, without accepting dollarization as an advanced conclusion. There are precedents in traditional monetary policy. Singapore has a strong local currency, distinct from the US dollar, and it strikes well above its weight in terms of global trade.
Innovation is to create better systems, not just to reproduce the ancients. Asian financial decision-makers can separate rapid payment rails from reserve assets, keep the place for the development of monetary policies and focus on intra-assie payment corridors.
A future pluralist of Stablecoin is not yet a reality. But as with all myths, he tells a story that deserves to be prosecuted.
