Bank of England Policymaker Says Dollar Stablecoins Ride on US Economic Weight

Wilkins drew a parallel with the history of privately issued banknotes in Britain and the United States, noting that stablecoins confront long-standing challenges: keeping their value convertible at par, holding high-quality reserves, supplying liquidity in a crisis, and setting clear rules for failure.

She pointed to the 2023 failure of Silicon Valley Bank as an example of those risks. At the time, Circle's USDC stablecoin briefly slipped from its dollar peg after around $3.3 billion of its reserves were tied up at the collapsed lender.

According to BitKE, about 98% of stablecoin value is currently denominated in US dollars, and the strategic effects could grow larger if dollar stablecoins move into mainstream payment use.

The European Central Bank has introduced Pontes, a settlement system linking its payment infrastructure to blockchain-based markets, with full implementation targeted for 2028.