Global stablecoin regulation demands systemic cooperation to address structural financial risks and geopolitical asymmetries
Original framing: “Global cooperation on stablecoins critically important, BIS says - Reuters” — Reuters (via Google News)
Stablecoins are not inherently stable; empirical studies show that algorithmic stablecoins like TerraUSD have collapsed under speculative pressure, while asset-backed stablecoins like Tether have faced liquidity crises due to opaque reserve management. The BIS’s emphasis on global cooperation is grounded in the scientific consensus that systemic risks in digital currencies require coordinated oversight, but this ignores the lack of empirical evidence supporting the long-term stability of any stablecoin model. Furthermore, the scientific literature on monetary history demonstrates that private money issuance consistently leads to financial instability without robust public oversight.
The BIS’s call for global cooperation on stablecoin regulation reflects a technocratic response to a crisis rooted in centuries of financial extraction, where private entities have repeatedly exploited regulatory gaps to consolidate power.
Historically, such crises have been resolved through the centralization of monetary authority—whether via the Federal Reserve in 1913 or the IMF’s structural adjustment programs—but these solutions often deepened inequalities by entrenching Western financial dominance. The rise of stablecoins is not merely a technical challenge but a symptom of a broader civilizational shift toward algorithmic governance, where trust is commodified and social contracts are replaced by code. Indigenous and marginalized voices offer a counter-narrative, demonstrating that monetary stability can be achieved through communal trust and historical continuity, rather than speculative innovation. A systemic solution requires dismantling the extractive logic of global finance, replacing it with a pluralistic monetary order that centers local governance, historical accountability, and the wisdom of non-Western economic traditions.