Coinbase has pushed back against the Bank for International Settlements’ latest critique of stablecoins, arguing that the institution misread both their current use and their risk profile. In a policy blog published after the BIS Annual Economic Report, Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad said the BIS judged stablecoins against an idealized monetary benchmark while assessing traditional finance on actual market performance.
Coinbase points to real payment adoption
The BIS report said stablecoins do not meet key monetary functions and could pose financial stability risks if adoption expands. Coinbase disputed that view line by line. The company argued that stablecoins are already improving payment efficiency, especially in cross-border transfers. To support that claim, it pointed to Visa and Mastercard stablecoin settlement initiatives, Stripe’s acquisition of Bridge, and Shopify’s rollout of USDC payments.
Coinbase also rejected BIS estimates that portrayed stablecoin activity as relatively modest. It cited data showing roughly $390 billion in stablecoin payments during 2025. Of that total, business-to-business payments accounted for about $226 billion, with year-over-year growth of 733%. In Coinbase’s framing, those figures show that stablecoins have moved beyond limited experimentation.
Fully reserved stablecoins are not banks, Coinbase says
The company also challenged the BIS argument that stablecoins fail the “singleness of money” principle. According to Coinbase, pricing gaps and transaction frictions already exist across traditional payment systems, yet bank deposits still function as money. On that basis, it argued that similar frictions do not automatically disqualify stablecoins from serving a monetary role.
On financial stability, the BIS warned that stablecoins could create risks similar to those associated with banks. Coinbase answered that fully reserved stablecoins differ in key ways because they do not engage in maturity transformation, leverage, or credit creation. The company also rejected the idea that stablecoins remain outside oversight, saying several major jurisdictions now have rules in place or are building them out.
US, EU, and UK frameworks featured in the response
To make that case, Coinbase cited the U.S. GENIUS framework, the European Union’s MiCA rules, and the UK’s developing regime. The exchange said these systems require reserve backing, asset segregation, supervision, and regular reporting. Coinbase also disputed claims that stablecoins would materially drain bank deposits or reduce lending activity, referring to analyses from the White House Council of Economic Advisers, Charles River Associates, and economist Will Cong.
Shirzad said the disagreement reflects a wider divide over the future of digital money. Coinbase’s message to policymakers was direct: focus on building effective stablecoin regulation, not on questioning whether stablecoins can function as money.