Audio Interview

Stablecoins: illusions, claims, and facts

Published on July 6, 2022   31 min

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Interviewer: Today I'm speaking to Professor Barry Eichengreen, George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. His most recent book, written with Asmaa El-Ganainy, Rui Esteves and Kris Mitchener, and published by Oxford University Press, "In Defense of Public Debt". We will be discussing the subject of Professor Eichengreen's article in Project Syndicate of 13th of July 2021 on stablecoins. Listeners are expected to have read the article before listening to this interview. Professor Eichengreen, thank you for sharing the time today. May we work through some basic questions? Who wants stablecoins? Why do they want them? What advantages are claimed for them? Why are the claims made illusory? Who's making money from them? Who should take what regulatory action? What do you anticipate happening? Let's take them in turn. Who wants stablecoins? Prof. Eichengreen: I think I want to add another question to the beginning of your list, which is what are stablecoins? The what should proceed the who I think. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies, digital units, that are pegged one-to-one or stable one-to-one against a national currency or a basket of national currencies. Probably the leading stablecoins

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