The central banks' central bank says stablecoins still aren't real money

The Bank for International Settlements (@BIS_org), often described as the central bank for central banks, has delivered its bluntest verdict yet on stablecoins. In its 2026 Annual Economic Report chapter titled "Anchoring trust in money: innovation beyond stablecoins", published June 23, 2026, the institution concluded that stablecoins in their current form are not money and should not be treated as the foundation of any future monetary system.

ETF Shares, Not Money

The 2026 report sharpens the BIS's critique compared with prior years. Rather than applying the clean three-tests framework of earlier analysis, the institution frames sound money around two foundational properties: unit of account and singleness. On both counts, stablecoins fall short. The report's sharpest new line is that stablecoins trade in secondary markets more like exchange-traded fund (ETF) shares than like money, with prices that can and do deviate from their pegged value. That deviation, the BIS argues, undermines the no-questions-asked principle that genuine money requires: a holder should be able to use it at face value without worrying about the issuer.

Elasticity and integrity remain supporting concerns. On elasticity, any increase in stablecoin supply requires full upfront payment from holders, constraining the kind of credit creation that underpins modern banking. On integrity, the BIS points to the role of unhosted wallets on public blockchains in facilitating money laundering, sanctions evasion, and other illicit flows.

Dollarisation and the Public-Sector Alternative

The report also renews warnings about monetary sovereignty. With the vast majority of fiat-backed stablecoins pegged to the US dollar, the BIS flags the risk of what it calls "stealth dollarisation," where dollar-denominated tokens displace local currencies in emerging economies and erode the ability of central banks to manage monetary conditions. The concern is not hypothetical: Venezuela and other economies have already seen residents turn to dollar-pegged stablecoins during periods of currency stress.

The BIS does not dismiss stablecoins entirely. It acknowledges their programmability and their utility as a settlement rail within the crypto ecosystem. But those are product features, the report argues, not the properties of a monetary anchor.

The institution's preferred path remains public-sector tokenisation. The 2026 report calls for central banks to build tokenised infrastructure combining central bank reserves, commercial bank money, and government bonds, a model it argues would deliver the efficiency gains of digital finance without sacrificing the trust that underpins sound money. That trust, the BIS contends, can only be provided by a public institution, not a private issuer.

Circle, the company behind $USDC, has seen its stock (CRCL) trade around $80 in recent weeks, well below its 52-week high of $298.99 reached in June 2025, reflecting a broader re-rating of stablecoin-related equities over the past year.

Sources:
BIS 2026 Annual Economic Report: Anchoring trust in money: innovation beyond stablecoins
MacroTrends: Circle Internet (CRCL) stock price history