Fed Gov. Waller Champions Stablecoins and Dismisses CBDCs

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller is promoting stablecoin usage while blasting central bank digital currencies.

During a speech Sunday (May 31) in Croatia, Waller said the global spread of stablecoins could increase the influence of U.S. central bank policy.

“Countries that adopt it, it’s like a fixed exchange rate system,” said Waller, whose comments were reported by Bloomberg News. “You are going to import U.S. monetary costs, so it’s broadening the reach of U.S. monetary policy in countries that use more stablecoins.”

Waller made similar remarks last year, the report added, when he argued that he supports stablecoins as they are likely to help the U.S. dollar’s role as a reserve currency, while also calling for clear guidelines around the tokens.

The report added that Waller also criticized central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), arguing there’s nothing that “requires a CBDC and only a CBDC to fix” while also calling them a “solution in search of a problem.”

That’s why “almost every major central bank in the world has just stopped” pushing for CBDCs, Waller said. “They just can’t find a reason for this.”

Waller added that “only the ECB and the Chinese” are pursuing CBDCs, speaking during a panel led by incoming European Central Bank (ECB) Vice President Boris Vujcic.

“Two banks, and nobody in China uses the thing anyway — they like WhatsApp and Alipay, they don’t even use the stupid thing,” he said.

Vujcic pushed back against one of Waller’s claims, the report added, pointing out that there were “21 western central banks” in the euro area that “have decided to go with the CBDC.”

As Bloomberg noted, officials in Europe including ECB President Christine Lagarde have been critical of stablecoins. In a speech earlier this month, Lagarde said that even a euro-denominated version of the stablecoin would place financial stability and monetary-policy transmission at risk.

In other stablecoin news, PYMNTS wrote last week about recent developments showing that the technology around these coins is working as planned. Now, that report argued, the digital dollar space is heading to a more difficult phase, one measured by whether businesses and consumers can use these assets without added friction, complexity or cost.

“The first challenge was proving that value can move on chain,” PYMNTS wrote. “The next challenge is figuring out how that value becomes economically useful once it moves off chain.”

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