Stablecoins as a New Monetary Layer: Market Structure, Reserve Design, and the Competition with Tokenized Deposits
Abstract
Stablecoins have evolved from liquidity tools for crypto trading into a form of tokenized private money with implications for payments, cross-border transfers, short-term funding markets, and the architecture of money itself. The literature on stablecoins has expanded rapidly but remains fragmented across stability, reserve design, banking, payments, and regulation. This paper synthesizes that literature into a single integrative argument: stablecoins should be analyzed as a distinct monetary layer within tokenized finance, evaluated against the BIS framework of singleness, elasticity, and integrity, and compared with tokenized deposits as their most relevant institutional alternative. Drawing on descriptive market evidence and a structured institutional comparison, the paper shows that the stablecoin sector is highly concentrated and overwhelmingly dollar-based; that reserve-backed stablecoins transmit on-chain demand into safe-asset markets and bank funding through three identifiable channels – Treasury and short-term funding, bank funding, and the global safe-asset channel; and that stablecoins and tokenized deposits embody distinct institutional models of programmable money with different welfare and stability implications. The paper concludes that, under recent regulatory developments including MiCA in the European Union and the GENIUS Act in the United States, the most coherent monetary architecture is one in which central bank money remains the ultimate settlement anchor, tokenized deposits extend regulated bank money into programmable environments, and stablecoins operate as specialized private instruments under strong constraints on reserves and redemption.
References
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Ahmed, R., Aldasoro, I., & Duley, C. (2024). Public information and stablecoin runs. BIS Working Papers No. 1164. Bank for International Settlements.
AlAsadi, L., Bewaji, O., Gugnani, A., Gupta, T. and Heijmans, R. (2025) An Econometric Investigation on the Stability of Stablecoins: Are These Coins Stable or Is Their Stability Just a Flip of the Coin? DNB Working Paper No. 846. Amsterdam: De Nederlandsche Bank
Aldasoro, I., Beltran, P. & Grinberg, F. (2026). Stablecoin inflows and spillovers to FX markets. IMF Working Paper No. 2026/056. International Monetary Fund. https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229042246.001
Aldasoro, I., & Ahmed, R. (2026). Are stablecoins and bank deposits substitutes? SSRN Working Paper No. 6457260.
Aldasoro, I., Cornelli, G., Ferrari Minesso, M., Gambacorta, L., & Habib, M. M. (2024). Stablecoins, money market funds and monetary policy. ECB Working Paper Series No. 2987. European Central Bank.
Aldasoro, I., Mehrling, P., & Neilson, D. H. (2023). On par: A money view of stablecoins. BIS Working Papers No. 1146. Bank for International Settlements.
Altavilla, C., Boucinha, M., Burlon, L., Adalid, R., Fortes, R., & Maruhn, F. (2026). Stablecoins and monetary policy transmission. ECB Working Paper Series No. 3199. European Central Bank.
Anadu, K., Azar, P. D., Cipriani, M., Eisenbach, T. M., Huang, C., Landoni, M., La Spada, G., Macchiavelli, M., Malfroy-Camine, A., & Wang, J. C. (2024). Runs and flights to safety: Are stablecoins the new money market funds? Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports No. 1073.
Ante, L. (2023). A systematic literature review of empirical research on stablecoins. Journal of FinTech, 2(1), 3–47. https://doi.org/10.3390/fintech2010003
Arner, D. W., Auer, R., & Frost, J. (2020). Stablecoins: Risks, potential and regulation. BIS Working Papers No. 905. Bank for International Settlements.
Auer, R., Lewrick, U., & Paulick, J. (2025). DeFiying gravity? BIS Working Papers No. 1265. Bank for International Settlements.
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Bank of England. (2025b). Advancing settlement: Central bank money for the next era of payments.
Bank of England. (2026). Talking ’bout next generation.
Barthélemy, J., Gardin, P., & Nguyen, B. (2026). Stablecoins and short-term funding markets. Journal of International Money and Finance, 161, 103469. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jimonfin.2025.103469
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Chen, W., & Phelan, G. (2025). Digital currency and banking-sector stability. Journal of Financial Stability, 78, 101414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfs.2025.101414
Circle Internet Financial. (2026). USDC reserve report.
Citigroup. (2025a). Citi token services press release.
Citigroup. (2025b). Strategic expansion of Citi Token Services.
CoinGecko. (2026). Stablecoins dashboard.
Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures. (2023). Considerations for the use of stablecoin arrangements in cross-border payments. BIS.
Cong, L. W. (2026). Stablecoins and banking. SSRN Working Paper.
Copestake, A., Englander, C., Martínez Pería, M. S., & Villegas-Bauer, G. (2026). Stablecoins and the future of payments. IMF Working Paper No. 2026/052. https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229040648.001
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DefiLlama. (2026). Stablecoins dashboard.
Dobler, M., Garrido, J., Grolleman, D., Khiaonarong, T., & Nolte, J. (2021). E-money: Prudential supervision. IMF Departmental Paper No. 2021/027.
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European Banking Authority. (2025). Risk assessment report.
European Banking Authority. (2026). Supervisory priorities opinion.
European Central Bank. (2025a). Stablecoins and monetary sovereignty. Speech.
European Central Bank. (2025b). Tokenisation and the future of finance. Speech.
European Central Bank. (2026). Exploratory work on new technologies.
European Parliament and Council. (2023). Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 May 2023 on markets in crypto-assets and amending Regulations (EU) No 1093/2010 and (EU) No 1095/2010 and Directives 2013/36/EU and (EU) 2019/1937 (MiCA). Official Journal of the European Union, L 150, 40–205
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European Systemic Risk Board. (2025b). Recommendation on stablecoin schemes.
FDIC. (2026). GENIUS Act requirements NPRM.
Ferrari Minesso, M., & Siena, D. (2026). Private money and public debt. ECB Working Paper.
Financial Services Agency of Japan. (2023). Payment Services Act amendments.
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Financial Stability Board. (2025). Peer review report.
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Frost, J., Wierts, P., & Shin, H. S. (2020). An early stablecoin? BIS Working Paper No. 902.
Gadzinski, G., Castello, A., & Mazzorana, F. (2023). Stablecoins: Does design affect stability? Finance Research Letters, 53, 103611.
Gadzinski, G., Castello, A., Liuzzi, V., & Sargenti, P. (2024). Break a peg! International Review of Financial Analysis, 96, 103608.
Garratt, R., & Shin, H. S. (2023). Stablecoins versus tokenised deposits. BIS Bulletin No. 73.
Gorton, G., & Zhang, J. (2023). Taming wildcat stablecoins. University of Chicago Law Review, 90.
Gross, M., & Senner, R. (2026). From par to pressure. IMF Working Paper No. 2026/005.
Hofmann, B., Mehrotra, A., & Paulick, J. (2026). Dollarisation and monetary control. BIS Mimeo.
Holmström, B. (2015). Understanding the role of debt. BIS Working Paper No. 479.
Hong Kong Government. (2025). Stablecoins Ordinance (Cap. 656).
Hong Kong Monetary Authority. (2025). Stablecoin issuer guidelines.
Huang, X., & Keister, T. (2026). Stablecoins vs tokenized deposits. FRB NY Staff Report No. 1179.
IOSCO. (2025). Thematic review report.
JPMorgan Chase. (2025). JPM Coin USD deposit token.
Lee, M. J., & Tou, D. (2026). Stablecoin disintermediation. FRB NY Staff Report No. 1185.
Lee, Y.-H., Chiu, Y.-F., & Hsieh, M.-H. (2025). Stablecoin depegging risk prediction. Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, 90, 102640.
Li, B., Mancini-Griffoli, T., Miccoli, M., Tan, B. J., & Zhang, L. (2026). Making stablecoins stable. IMF Working Paper No. 2026/074.
Lyons, R. K., & Viswanath-Natraj, G. (2023). What keeps stablecoins stable? Journal of International Money and Finance, 131, 102777.
Ma, Y., Yang, Z., & Zhang, A. L. (2025). Stablecoin runs and arbitrage. NBER Working Paper No. 33882.
Maex, S. A., & Slavov, S. (2025). Stablecoin reserve reporting. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 51, 107309.
Mahrous, A., Caprolu, M., & Di Pietro, R. (2025). Stablecoins: Fundamentals. arXiv preprint.
Monetary Authority of Singapore. (2023). Stablecoin consultation response.
Oefele, N., Baur, D. G., & Smales, L. A. (2024). Flight-to-quality. Economics Letters, 234, 111464.
OCC. (2025). Conditional approvals for trust banks.
OCC. (2026). GENIUS Act NPRM.
Pennacchi, G. (2012). Narrow banking. Annual Review of Financial Economics, 4, 141–159.
Reuter, M. (2025). Decrypting crypto. IMF Working Paper No. 2025/141.
Reuters. (2025). Crypto firms trust bank approval.
RWA.xyz. (2026). Stablecoins dashboard.
SoFi Technologies. (2025). Stablecoin launch press release.
Tether International. (2026). Reserve report.
U.S. Congress. (2025). GENIUS Act (Public Law 119-27).
U.S. Department of the Treasury. (2026a). Stablecoin regulatory principles.
U.S. Department of the Treasury. (2026b). AML/CFT NPRM.
Wang, J. J. (2025). Banks in the age of stablecoins. FEDS Notes.
Yadav, Y., & Malone, B. (2026). Stablecoins and the US Treasury market. Journal of International Economic Law.
Ahmed, R., & Aldasoro, I. (2025). Stablecoins and safe asset prices. BIS Working Papers No. 1270. Bank for International Settlements. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=6457260
Ahmed, R., Aldasoro, I., & Duley, C. (2024). Public information and stablecoin runs. BIS Working Papers No. 1164. Bank for International Settlements.
AlAsadi, L., Bewaji, O., Gugnani, A., Gupta, T. and Heijmans, R. (2025) An Econometric Investigation on the Stability of Stablecoins: Are These Coins Stable or Is Their Stability Just a Flip of the Coin? DNB Working Paper No. 846. Amsterdam: De Nederlandsche Bank
Aldasoro, I., Beltran, P. & Grinberg, F. (2026). Stablecoin inflows and spillovers to FX markets. IMF Working Paper No. 2026/056. International Monetary Fund. https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229042246.001
Aldasoro, I., & Ahmed, R. (2026). Are stablecoins and bank deposits substitutes? SSRN Working Paper No. 6457260.
Aldasoro, I., Cornelli, G., Ferrari Minesso, M., Gambacorta, L., & Habib, M. M. (2024). Stablecoins, money market funds and monetary policy. ECB Working Paper Series No. 2987. European Central Bank.
Aldasoro, I., Mehrling, P., & Neilson, D. H. (2023). On par: A money view of stablecoins. BIS Working Papers No. 1146. Bank for International Settlements.
Altavilla, C., Boucinha, M., Burlon, L., Adalid, R., Fortes, R., & Maruhn, F. (2026). Stablecoins and monetary policy transmission. ECB Working Paper Series No. 3199. European Central Bank.
Anadu, K., Azar, P. D., Cipriani, M., Eisenbach, T. M., Huang, C., Landoni, M., La Spada, G., Macchiavelli, M., Malfroy-Camine, A., & Wang, J. C. (2024). Runs and flights to safety: Are stablecoins the new money market funds? Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports No. 1073.
Ante, L. (2023). A systematic literature review of empirical research on stablecoins. Journal of FinTech, 2(1), 3–47. https://doi.org/10.3390/fintech2010003
Arner, D. W., Auer, R., & Frost, J. (2020). Stablecoins: Risks, potential and regulation. BIS Working Papers No. 905. Bank for International Settlements.
Auer, R., Lewrick, U., & Paulick, J. (2025). DeFiying gravity? BIS Working Papers No. 1265. Bank for International Settlements.
Bank for International Settlements. (2025). Annual Economic Report 2025. BIS.
Bank of England. (2025a). Proposed regulatory regime for sterling-denominated systemic stablecoins.
Bank of England. (2025b). Advancing settlement: Central bank money for the next era of payments.
Bank of England. (2026). Talking ’bout next generation.
Barthélemy, J., Gardin, P., & Nguyen, B. (2026). Stablecoins and short-term funding markets. Journal of International Money and Finance, 161, 103469. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jimonfin.2025.103469
BNY Mellon. (2025). Ripple selects BNY Mellon to custody reserves. Press release.
Breeden, S. (2025). Not just token gestures. Speech. https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/speech/2025/october/sarah-breeden-panellist-at-fintech-foundation-2025-dc-fiintech-week
Briola, A., Vidal-Tomás, D., Wang, Y., & Aste, T. (2023). Anatomy of a stablecoin’s failure: The Terra-Luna case. Finance Research Letters, 51, 103358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2022.103358
Cerutti, E., Firat, M., & Hengge, M. (2025). Global cross-border payments: A $1 quadrillion evolving market? IMF Working Paper No. 2025/120.
Cerutti, E., Firat, M., Hengge, M., & Sagawa, T. (2026). Stablecoin shocks. IMF Working Paper No. 2026/044. https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229040228.001
Chen, W., & Phelan, G. (2025). Digital currency and banking-sector stability. Journal of Financial Stability, 78, 101414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfs.2025.101414
Circle Internet Financial. (2026). USDC reserve report.
Citigroup. (2025a). Citi token services press release.
Citigroup. (2025b). Strategic expansion of Citi Token Services.
CoinGecko. (2026). Stablecoins dashboard.
Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures. (2023). Considerations for the use of stablecoin arrangements in cross-border payments. BIS.
Cong, L. W. (2026). Stablecoins and banking. SSRN Working Paper.
Copestake, A., Englander, C., Martínez Pería, M. S., & Villegas-Bauer, G. (2026). Stablecoins and the future of payments. IMF Working Paper No. 2026/052. https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229040648.001
Coste, C.-E. (2024). Stablecoins’ impact on banks’ balance sheets. ECB Occasional Paper No. 353.
DefiLlama. (2026). Stablecoins dashboard.
Dobler, M., Garrido, J., Grolleman, D., Khiaonarong, T., & Nolte, J. (2021). E-money: Prudential supervision. IMF Departmental Paper No. 2021/027.
Dudley, W. C., & Liang, N. (2026). Next steps for GENIUS payment stablecoins. Brookings.
European Banking Authority. (2024). Report on tokenised deposits.
European Banking Authority. (2025). Risk assessment report.
European Banking Authority. (2026). Supervisory priorities opinion.
European Central Bank. (2025a). Stablecoins and monetary sovereignty. Speech.
European Central Bank. (2025b). Tokenisation and the future of finance. Speech.
European Central Bank. (2026). Exploratory work on new technologies.
European Parliament and Council. (2023). Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 May 2023 on markets in crypto-assets and amending Regulations (EU) No 1093/2010 and (EU) No 1095/2010 and Directives 2013/36/EU and (EU) 2019/1937 (MiCA). Official Journal of the European Union, L 150, 40–205
European Systemic Risk Board. (2025a). Crypto-assets and DeFi.
European Systemic Risk Board. (2025b). Recommendation on stablecoin schemes.
FDIC. (2026). GENIUS Act requirements NPRM.
Ferrari Minesso, M., & Siena, D. (2026). Private money and public debt. ECB Working Paper.
Financial Services Agency of Japan. (2023). Payment Services Act amendments.
Financial Services Agency of Japan. (2025). Payment Services Act amendment bill.
Financial Stability Board. (2023). Global regulatory framework for crypto-assets.
Financial Stability Board. (2024). Implementation roadmap.
Financial Stability Board. (2025). Peer review report.
FSB & IOSCO. (2025). Crypto-asset regulatory progress note.
Frost, J., Wierts, P., & Shin, H. S. (2020). An early stablecoin? BIS Working Paper No. 902.
Gadzinski, G., Castello, A., & Mazzorana, F. (2023). Stablecoins: Does design affect stability? Finance Research Letters, 53, 103611.
Gadzinski, G., Castello, A., Liuzzi, V., & Sargenti, P. (2024). Break a peg! International Review of Financial Analysis, 96, 103608.
Garratt, R., & Shin, H. S. (2023). Stablecoins versus tokenised deposits. BIS Bulletin No. 73.
Gorton, G., & Zhang, J. (2023). Taming wildcat stablecoins. University of Chicago Law Review, 90.
Gross, M., & Senner, R. (2026). From par to pressure. IMF Working Paper No. 2026/005.
Hofmann, B., Mehrotra, A., & Paulick, J. (2026). Dollarisation and monetary control. BIS Mimeo.
Holmström, B. (2015). Understanding the role of debt. BIS Working Paper No. 479.
Hong Kong Government. (2025). Stablecoins Ordinance (Cap. 656).
Hong Kong Monetary Authority. (2025). Stablecoin issuer guidelines.
Huang, X., & Keister, T. (2026). Stablecoins vs tokenized deposits. FRB NY Staff Report No. 1179.
IOSCO. (2025). Thematic review report.
JPMorgan Chase. (2025). JPM Coin USD deposit token.
Lee, M. J., & Tou, D. (2026). Stablecoin disintermediation. FRB NY Staff Report No. 1185.
Lee, Y.-H., Chiu, Y.-F., & Hsieh, M.-H. (2025). Stablecoin depegging risk prediction. Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, 90, 102640.
Li, B., Mancini-Griffoli, T., Miccoli, M., Tan, B. J., & Zhang, L. (2026). Making stablecoins stable. IMF Working Paper No. 2026/074.
Lyons, R. K., & Viswanath-Natraj, G. (2023). What keeps stablecoins stable? Journal of International Money and Finance, 131, 102777.
Ma, Y., Yang, Z., & Zhang, A. L. (2025). Stablecoin runs and arbitrage. NBER Working Paper No. 33882.
Maex, S. A., & Slavov, S. (2025). Stablecoin reserve reporting. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 51, 107309.
Mahrous, A., Caprolu, M., & Di Pietro, R. (2025). Stablecoins: Fundamentals. arXiv preprint.
Monetary Authority of Singapore. (2023). Stablecoin consultation response.
Oefele, N., Baur, D. G., & Smales, L. A. (2024). Flight-to-quality. Economics Letters, 234, 111464.
OCC. (2025). Conditional approvals for trust banks.
OCC. (2026). GENIUS Act NPRM.
Pennacchi, G. (2012). Narrow banking. Annual Review of Financial Economics, 4, 141–159.
Reuter, M. (2025). Decrypting crypto. IMF Working Paper No. 2025/141.
Reuters. (2025). Crypto firms trust bank approval.
RWA.xyz. (2026). Stablecoins dashboard.
SoFi Technologies. (2025). Stablecoin launch press release.
Tether International. (2026). Reserve report.
U.S. Congress. (2025). GENIUS Act (Public Law 119-27).
U.S. Department of the Treasury. (2026a). Stablecoin regulatory principles.
U.S. Department of the Treasury. (2026b). AML/CFT NPRM.
Wang, J. J. (2025). Banks in the age of stablecoins. FEDS Notes.
Yadav, Y., & Malone, B. (2026). Stablecoins and the US Treasury market. Journal of International Economic Law.
Published
2026-06-30
How to Cite
MIRDALA, Rajmund.
Stablecoins as a New Monetary Layer: Market Structure, Reserve Design, and the Competition with Tokenized Deposits.
Theoretical and Practical Research in Economic Fields, [S.l.], v. 17, n. 2, p. 594 - 626, june 2026.
ISSN 2068-7710.
Available at: <https://journals.aserspublishing.eu/tpref/article/view/9528>. Date accessed: 02 july 2026.
doi: https://doi.org/10.14505/tpref.v17.2(38).21.
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