Former BIS Chief Now Sees Role for Stablecoins Alongside Fiat
Agustín Carstens, once a sharp crypto critic, now says stablecoins can drive inclusion and innovation if governed by global rules.
Agustín Carstens, the former general manager of the Bank for International Settlements and one of the most prominent institutional skeptics of cryptocurrency, has notably moderated his position on stablecoins — acknowledging that the digital assets can serve legitimate functions within the broader financial system. The shift from a figure of his stature carries real weight, given that the BIS has long served as the central banker's central bank and a bulwark of orthodox monetary thinking.
Carstens now argues that stablecoins carry genuine potential to advance financial inclusion and spur innovation, a concession that would have seemed unlikely just a few years ago when regulatory and central bank circles were largely dismissive of private digital currencies. His pivot reflects a broader reassessment underway among monetary policymakers worldwide, as stablecoin adoption has grown too significant to be wished away through skepticism alone.
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The caveat, however, is substantial: Carstens insists that coexistence between stablecoins and sovereign fiat currencies is only viable within a robust global regulatory architecture. Without coordinated cross-border rules, the risks — ranging from runs on poorly-backed tokens to fragmentation of monetary sovereignty — remain acute. This framing positions stablecoins not as rivals to central bank money, but as instruments that must be tethered to it through law and oversight.
The broader implication is that the debate is maturing. Policymakers are moving past binary arguments of ban-or-embrace toward the harder, more consequential work of designing frameworks that harness private innovation without undermining financial stability. Carstens' evolution may signal that institutional consensus is quietly shifting in the same direction — making coordinated global stablecoin regulation less a theoretical ambition and more an eventual inevitability.
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