The wave of stablecoins is sweeping the globe, becoming an important issue that countries urgently need to address - allowing stablecoins to develop in an unregulated manner will have a negative impact on the domestic financial system, and abandoning an efficient settlement tool will miss the new opportunities for MMF globalization.
For China, which is actively enhancing the international status of the renminbi, proactively regulating stablecoins and accelerating the internationalization of the renminbi may be a better solution. Experts and industry insiders who were interviewed generally believe that as an emerging payment tool, the unique advantages and potential risks of stablecoins cannot be ignored, and the development of renminbi stablecoins is 'better early than late'. Based on the 'parallel progress' of the Digital Currency renminbi and offshore renminbi stablecoins participating in the competition of the international monetary system, it may represent a new path for the internationalization of the renminbi in the face of changing times.
A payment tool that cannot be ignored.
Since May of this year, the United States and Hong Kong have successively passed laws related to stablecoins, positioning fiat-backed stablecoins (hereinafter referred to as 'fiat stablecoins') as payment tools, making a strict distinction from securities tokens, and strengthening regulations on anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing. Several countries, including the United Kingdom and South Korea, have also clearly included stablecoins in their legislative plans.
Behind the accelerated process of stablecoin compliance is its growing importance in the global payment system, becoming a new tool that countries must take seriously. Currently, the global market size of stablecoins has exceeded 250 billion dollars. Visa's monitoring data shows that by June 2025, the adjusted number of stablecoin payment transactions is as high as 1.6 billion times, with a transaction amount reaching 7.3 trillion dollars. A research report from Citibank estimates that in an optimistic scenario, the market cap of stablecoins could reach 3.7 trillion dollars by 2030.
Abroad, views such as 'stablecoins are surpassing existing settlement networks' are rampant. Compared to traditional payment methods, stablecoins have fewer payment steps and shorter processes, allowing for real-time settlement from point to point, which is more efficient and lower in cost for cross-border payments. In international commodity trade, cases of using stablecoins for goods payments and settlements are not uncommon.
Zhu Taihui, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Finance and Development, pointed out that in terms of settlement time, traditional bank cross-border remittances take 1 to 5 working days, while settlements using blockchain-based stablecoins can be completed within minutes. In terms of settlement costs, the average cost rate for traditional bank cross-border remittances is around 6.35%, whereas in some regions, the average cost of sending stablecoins has dropped to below 1 dollar.
At the same time, stablecoins are still long-term applications in the gray industry. The US dollar stablecoins, represented by Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC), have been accused by research institutions of involving a considerable scale of illegal financial transactions, and Tether has been pointed out several times by the US government for involving illegal financial activities.
Stablecoins are products of real demand. On one hand, they are used in virtual asset Trade, on-chain Trade, and other emerging economic fields, where traditional methods cannot meet the payment and settlement needs of these transactions. On the other hand, they are associated with gray and illegal Trade. Liu Xiaochun, vice president of the Shanghai New Financial Research Institute (SFI), stated in an interview with the Securities Times that legislation for stablecoins is necessary for both innovation and financial security.
Liu Xiaochun also pointed out that the ultimate goal of payment and settlement is to achieve value transfer represented by legal currency. The payment via stablecoins is just one part of it. Only when the payee ultimately acquires legal currency is the settlement considered complete.
Protect and promote the sovereignty of legal currency.
In the process of legislation, relevant bills in the United States and Hong Kong, China, coincidentally include all stablecoins pegged to foreign currencies and local currencies into the regulatory scope, further protecting and promoting the sovereignty of legal currency. Yang Tao, a researcher at the Financial Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and director of the Payment and Clearing Research Center, emphasized that behind legal currency stablecoins lies both the trust and concerns of the market regarding the credit of legal currency.
On one hand, stablecoins pegged to foreign currencies may pose risks to the domestic financial system. In recent years, legal currency stablecoins have triggered financial market turbulence multiple times. Although the country has not officially explored the development of stablecoins, offshore RMB stablecoins have appeared in the crypto market, pegged at a 1:1 ratio to offshore RMB.
As the internationalization of the RMB continues to advance, it is inevitable that stablecoins pegged to the RMB will emerge abroad, and the Chinese financial system will inevitably face the potential risk shocks they may bring. It is necessary to formulate regulations to prevent these risks. Liu Xiaochun stated that from a regulatory perspective, the usage scope of different issuers or different stablecoins can be limited.
On the other hand, by leveraging the global characteristics of stablecoins, the influence of sovereign currencies can further expand into payment for goods and services and financial transactions within various countries. Currently, the Market Cap of USD stablecoins accounts for over 95% of legal currency stablecoins. 'By anchoring to USD stablecoins, the influence of the dollar will extend into emerging fields, potentially expanding its impact,' said Zheng Lei, chief economist of Samoyed Cloud Technology Group, to reporters.
Liu Xiaochun emphasized that while the dollar remains the primary international reserve currency and currency for Trade, it is a normal phenomenon to use USD stablecoins for payment and settlement in an internationalized emerging economic field. If China issues RMB stablecoins, the primary goal should not be to compete with USD stablecoins, but to serve the development of emerging economies and the internationalization of the RMB.
Promote the development of fiat stablecoins and central bank digital currencies simultaneously.
For many years, our country has actively utilized central bank digital currencies to address the difficulties and pain points in cross-border payments. Pan Gongsheng, the governor of the People's Bank of China, pointed out at the 2025 Shanghai Lujiazui Forum that emerging technologies such as blockchain and distributed ledger are driving the vigorous development of central bank digital currencies and stablecoins, achieving "payment equals settlement," fundamentally reshaping the traditional payment system and significantly shortening the cross-border payment chain.
Central bank digital currencies can also enhance the efficiency of cross-border payments and reduce costs. The central bank digital currency bridge project platform can complete a payment transaction within 6 to 9 seconds, saving nearly half the costs.
Unlike the peer-to-peer settlement of stablecoins, central bank digital currencies can adopt bilateral or multilateral settlement models during cross-border settlements. Zheng Lei pointed out to reporters that the two settlement models of central bank digital currency face high promotion difficulties due to the legal supervision of bilateral or multilateral countries and different financial systems. He believes that developing offshore RMB stablecoins can expand the use of offshore RMB, especially in international payments involving non-Chinese enterprises, increasing the usage frequency of offshore RMB as a supplement to traditional financial methods, further improving the path to RMB internationalization.
From the application scenarios, fiat stablecoins and digital RMB have their respective emphases and complement each other. The former is mainly used in cross-border settlements and crypto asset trading, while the latter has been widely used in domestic utility payments, shopping, and consumption. Liu Xiaochun further pointed out that due to the high compatibility between application scenarios and the characteristics of stablecoins, the scenarios where stablecoins can be successfully applied must also be applicable to central bank digital currencies. "The issuance of RMB stablecoins actually helps promote the application of digital RMB," Liu Xiaochun said.
For a long time, the People's Bank of China has coordinated development and security, and prudently and solidly promoted the internationalization of the RMB. Zhu Taihui suggested that in the future, a gradual approach could be taken to promote the development of RMB stablecoins. In terms of timing, it could be considered to quickly launch offshore RMB stablecoins in Hong Kong, which should be done sooner rather than later; in terms of development path, given the limited market size and application scenarios in Hong Kong, it can try to "first offshore abroad, then offshore domestically," gradually promoting from Hong Kong to the domestic free trade zones.
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