The FSB for its part has proposed to start work on “stable coins” with a view to conclusions in July 2020. No stable digital currencies project should be launched until the legal, regulatory and supervisory problems and risks have been resolved. will have been adequately settled”, concluded the G7 with regard to the report published Friday under the responsibility of Benoît Coeuré, member of the ECB, without citing the Libra association launched in June. This sine qua non for launching "stable coins" should push back the project led by Facebook, a priori "designed to work with existing regulatory institutions", but with the particularity of potentially having 2.4 billion users, which would have “a global impact”, recalled Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of the Economy. If the "stable coins" could, more than cryptocurrencies (too volatile), serve as means of payment, in particular cross-border to lower transaction costs, and as a store of value, these technologies must first be "tested" at given the potential risks of illicit activities such as money laundering, problems of manipulation, governance, data protection, taxation, and - on a global scale - financial and monetary stability, and also democracy, added Bruno Le Mayor. At the same time, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) provided G20 leaders with a note on the regulation of “stable coins” in response to their request made at the end of June in Osaka. Too rapid development “could alter the current assessment that crypto-assets do not pose a significant risk to financial stability”, he underlines, referring to a potential “systemic” risk because they combine different financial functions: payment, deposit, exchange, placement… In certain circumstances, this would create new stability risks, for example, the strength of a “stable coin” may depend on how its reserve assets are managed and whose redemption rights are designed. Interactions with the current financial system (banks, custodians, etc.) are at the heart of the matter. In view of the potential benefits for the economy, the FSB therefore proposes to take stock of existing technologies and regulations that could be effective in dealing with financial stability and systemic risk problems, in an internationally coordinated manner. It will submit a consultation report to G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in April 2020, and a final report in July 2020.

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