Stablecoins and Tokenised Deposits: Two Different Instruments
Regulated stablecoins and tokenised commercial bank deposits are frequently conflated. Their credit, settlement and licensing profiles are not comparable.
Fintech Entrepreneur
Not the same instrument
A regulated stablecoin is a claim on an issuer backed by segregated reserves. A tokenised deposit is a claim on a bank, inside the deposit framework, represented on a ledger.
Consequences
- Credit exposure differs: issuer reserves versus bank balance sheet.
- Settlement finality differs by ledger design and legal wrapper.
- Licensing differs: e-money or crypto-asset regimes versus a banking licence.
For treasury purposes, the relevant question is not the technology but who you are exposed to at 5pm.
Content is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, regulatory, tax, investment or financial advice.
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