Treasury’s Liang raises prospect of nonbank stablecoin model

Treasury Under Secretary for Domestic Finance Nellie Liang this week explored the appropriate regulatory structure to address stablecoin risks.

Speech: In her remarks, Liang discussed two possible stablecoin regulatory models:

• Bank model: Stablecoins would be backed by bank assets, capital, and liquidity buffers, though safeguards would be needed to prevent significant losses for bank and customers.

• Nonbank model: Stablecoins would be backed with safe assets without a direct tie to the banking system, which could interfere with intermediation if nonbank stablecoins compete with bank deposits.

Background: The discussion of a nonbank model is a departure from last year’s stablecoin report from the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, which advocated legislation that would require stablecoin issuers to be insured depository institutions.

More: ICBA recently published a series of blog posts on the collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin, its ongoing impact on financial markets, and how it affects community banks and the regulatory debate.