BIS Questions Stablecoin Suitability as Banks Plan Own

The Bank for International Settlements has questioned the suitability of stablecoins for mainstream payments, even as a consortium of major global banks moves forward with plans to issue their own. In a speech at the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on August 28, 2026, BIS General Manager Pablo Hernández de Cos argued that tokenized deposits represent a more promising foundation for the future of digital payments. De Cos outlined a specific critique, stating that stablecoins fail to meet the core properties of money. He highlighted issues with singleness, noting that different stablecoins like USDT and USDC are not guaranteed to be interchangeable at a one-to-one value.