The growing popularity and market capitalization of stablecoins, such as Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC), pose a serious challenge to many central banks in different countries. Despite their name, many of these cryptocurrencies do not provide the required stability. This was stated by the head of the Bank of South Korea, Lee Chan Yeong, in his speech published in Yonhap News.

The spread of this asset category may contribute to reducing the significance of national currencies and increase the efficiency of monetary policy.

The ability of stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat currencies such as the US dollar (USD) or the euro (EUR), to maintain the stability of their value has become a relevant topic of discussion this week. Recently, the rating agency S&P developed a rating system for this characteristic and assigned a rating of 2 out of 5 points to the world's largest stable cryptocurrency, Tether (USDT).

Lee also announced that the Bank of South Korea is actively working on a wholesale pilot project for a digital national currency (CBDC). The country's central bank plans to launch a pilot program in which 100,000 people will be able to participate in the use of digital currency for retail transactions as early as 2024. In addition, the country is conducting research in the field of tokenization of real assets (RWA), which is becoming an increasingly popular trend in the global financial sphere.