Systemic stablecoin and the defensive case for Central Bank Digital Currency: A critique of the Bank of England’s framing

The case for CBDC does not just rest on its benefits or attractions, but also on its scope to avert potential problems associated with stablecoin. In this brief paper I critique the ‘illustrative scenario’ at the heart of the Bank of England’s recent New Forms of Digital Money discussion paper. I suggest that it does not deal realistically with the motives and practices of issuers. The argument speaks to contradictory trends both in the urgency of regulation of stablecoin and the underlying case for CBDC.