Overview

• In a Sept. 26 report, Moody’s warns that rapid adoption of stablecoins for savings and remittances can weaken monetary transmission by shifting pricing and settlement outside local currencies.
• The agency says uptake is concentrated in Southeast Asia, Africa and parts of Latin America, driven by inflation hedging, mobile payments and remittances, with global crypto ownership reaching 562 million in 2024, up 33% year on year.
• Moody’s cautions that pseudonymous wallets and offshore exchanges facilitate capital flight, undermining exchange‑rate stability.
• Growing reliance on dollar‑pegged tokens could erode bank deposits and raise the risk of runs on issuers’ reserves if confidence falters.
• Fewer than a third of countries have comprehensive digital‑asset rules, even as the EU’s MiCA takes effect and policy efforts progress in the United States and China.