The Daily Peg

ECB's Isabel Schnabel doubles down on the central bank's anti-stablecoin campaign, warning of dollarisation risks.

Editorial hello

Finally, we’re back. And to my surprise, we didn’t miss all that much. Just JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon taking a potshot at Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong over the Clarity Act. And to a lesser extent, Tether collaborating with the Georgian government on the issuance of a local currency stablecoin, the key details of which — including its issuance structure, reserve custody arrangements, redemption mechanics, and rollout timeline — have yet to be revealed.

Inquiring minds will undoubtedly want to know whether LariCoin ends up looking more like a government-backed private stablecoin, or a CBDC by another name, than a conventional stablecoin.

The bigger news today, however, is the European Central Bank’s continuing campaign against stablecoins, this time in the form of a highbrow intervention from Isabel Schnabel. The erudite German official not only takes aim at stablecoins, but also seizes the opportunity to unceremoniously talk down the dollar, arguing that its enduring dominance owes less to America’s economic fundamentals than to the network effects, scale, and first-mover advantages generated by the eurodollar market and money market funds. Miaow.