What Are Stablecoins?
A “stablecoin” is a type of cryptocurrency whose value is tied to an outside asset, such as the U.S. dollar or gold, to stabilize the price.
Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum offer a number of benefits, and one of the most fundamental is not requiring trust in an intermediary institution to send payments, which opens up their use to anyone around the globe. But one key drawback is that cryptocurrencies’ prices are unpredictable and have a tendency to fluctuate, sometimes wildly.
This makes them hard for everyday people to use. Generally, people expect to be able to know how much their money will be worth a week from now, both for their security and their livelihood.
Cryptocurrency’s unpredictability comes in contrast to the generally stable prices of fiat money, such as U.S. dollars, or other assets, such as gold. Values of currencies like the dollar do change gradually over time, but the day-to-day changes are often more drastic for cryptocurrencies, where the value jumps up and down regularly.
The following graph shows the price of bitcoin (BTC, -5.42%) vs. the U.S. dollar (USD) compared to another fiat currency, the Canadian dollar (CAD), to see how much each currency fluctuates in relation.
Stablecoins were worth more than $10 billion as of May 2020. In countries like Brazil, many people are turning to stablecoins as an alternative to their national currencies in uncertain economic conditions. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, some people are using stablecoins to avoid new internet censorship in a tumultuous political climate.
Stablecoins in a nutshell
Stablecoins try to tackle price fluctuations by tying the value of cryptocurrencies to other more stable assets – usually fiat. Fiat is the government-issued currency we’re all used to using on a day-to-day basis, such dollars and euros, and it tends to stay stable over time.
Usually the entity behind the stablecoin will set up a “reserve” where it securely stores the asset backing the stablecoin – for example, $1 million in an old-fashioned bank (the kind with branches and tellers and ATMs in the lobby) to back up one million units of the stablecoin.
This is how a digital stablecoin and a real-world asset are tied together. The money in the reserve serves as “collateral” for the stablecoin. A user can theoretically redeem one unit of a stablecoin for one unit of the asset that backs it.
There is a more complex type of stablecoin that is collateralized by other cryptocurrencies rather than fiat yet still is engineered to track a mainstream asset like the dollar.
Maker, perhaps the most famous stablecoin issuer that uses this mechanism, accomplishes this with the help of Collateralized Debt Positions (CDPs), which lock up a user’s cryptocurrency collateral. Then, once the smart contract knows the collateral is secured, a user can use it to borrow freshly minted dai, the stablecoin.
A third variety of stablecoin, known as an algorithmic stablecoin, isn’t collateralized at all; instead, coins are either burned or created to keep the coin’s value in line with the target price. Say the coin drops from the target price of $1 to $0.75. The algorithm will automatically destroy a swathe of the coins to introduce more scarcity, pushing up the price of the stablecoin.
This type of stablecoin is much less popular so far. One of the most popular stablecoins following this model, basis, shut down in 2018 due to regulatory concerns.
Types of stablecoin collateral
Using this framework, stablecoins come in a range of flavors, and the collateralized stablecoins use a variety of types of assets as backing:
Fiat: Fiat is the most common collateral for stablecoins. The U.S. dollar is the most popular among fiat currencies, but companies are exploring stablecoins pegged to other fiat currencies as well, such as bilira, which is pegged to the Turkish lira.
Precious metals: Some cryptocurrencies are tied to the value of precious metals such as gold or silver.
Cryptocurrencies: Some stablecoins even use other cryptocurrencies, such as ether, the native token of the Ethereum network, as collateral.
What are the most popular stablecoins?
To give you a taste of the experimentation happening in stablecoin land, let’s run through some of the most popular stablecoins.
Diem
Diem (formerly known as Libra) is a stablecoin in the works, originally conceived by the powerful, worldwide social media platform Facebook. While libra hasn’t launched, it’s had more psychological impact than any other stablecoin.
Governments, notably China’s, are now exploring their own crypto-inspired digital currencies, in part because they’re worried Diem would be a competitive threat since Facebook is a multinational company with billions of users from across the globe.
Initially, the Diem Association, the consortium set up by Facebook, said Diem would be backed by a “basket” of currencies, including the U.S. dollar and the euro. But due to global regulatory concerns, the association has since backed off from its ambitious original vision. Instead, it is now planning to focus on developing multiple stablecoins, each backed by a separate national currency.
Its first stablecoin, the Diem dollar, is expected to launch as early as January 2021.
Tether
Tether, or USDT (+0.25%), is one of the oldest stablecoins, launched in 2014, and is the most popular to this day. It’s currently one of the most valuable cryptocurrencies overall by market capitalization.
The primary use case for USDT is moving money between exchanges quickly to take advantage of arbitrage opportunities when the price of cryptocurrencies differs on two exchanges; traders can make money on this discrepancy. But it has found other applications: Chinese importers stationed in Russia have also used USDT to send millions of dollars worth of value across the border, bypassing strict capital controls in China.
Tether Ltd., the company that issues USDT, is embroiled in a legal battle with the New York Attorney General concerning providing financial documents that would illuminate its financial relationship with the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex.
USD Coin
Launched in 2018, USD Coin is a stablecoin managed jointly by the cryptocurrency firms Circle and Coinbase through the Centre consortium.
Like tether, USD Coin is pegged to the U.S. dollar. It is the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization.
Dai
Running on the MakerDAO protocol, dai is a stablecoin on the Ethereum blockchain. Created in 2015, dai (+0.02%) is pegged to the U.S. dollar and backed by ether (ETH, -6.59%), the token behind Ethereum.
Unlike other stablecoins, MakerDAO intends for dai to be decentralized, meaning there’s no central authority trusted with control of the system. Rather, Ethereum smart contracts – which encode rules that can’t be changed – have this job instead.
There are still problems with this innovative model, however; for example, if the smart contracts underpinning MakerDAO don’t work exactly as anticipated. Indeed, they were gamed earlier this year, leading to losses of $8 million.
Do stablecoins have any drawbacks?
There are a few drawbacks to stablecoins to keep in mind. Because of the way stablecoins are typically set up, they have different pain points than other cryptocurrencies.
Crypto publication The Capital, for instance, argues that while stablecoins are called “stable,” they are only as stable as the asset that the stablecoin is tied to. Traditionally, the price of the dollar is very stable, but if that were to change, any fluctuations in the value of the dollar would be reflected in the stablecoin.
If the reserves are stored with a bank or some other third party, another vulnerability is counterparty risk. This boils down to the question: Does the entity really have the collateral it claims to have? This has been a question frequently posed to Tether, for instance, without clear answers. Tether has yet to provide a full open audit of its reserves.
Many stablecoin issuers don’t provide transparency about where their reserves are held, which can help a user determine how risky the stablecoin is to invest in. Knowing where their money is held, users can see if a stablecoin is operating without a license in the region where the reserves are held. If the stablecoin operators don’t have a license, a regulator could potentially freeze the stablecoin’s underlying funds, for instance.
Further, it’s possible the reserves backing a stablecoin could turn out to be insufficient to redeem every unit, potentially shaking confidence in the coin.
Cryptocurrencies were created to replace intermediary companies that are typically trusted with a user’s money. By their nature, intermediaries have control over that money; for example, they are typically able to stop a transaction from occurring. Some stablecoins add the ability to stop transactions back into the mix.
USD Coin openly has a back door to stop payments if coins are used in an illicit manner. Circle, one of the firms behind USD Coin, confirmed in July 2020 that it froze $100,000 of USD Coin at the behest of law enforcement.
ethereum telegram программа tether
ethereum homestead
сети ethereum bitcoin вложения bitcoin analysis lealana bitcoin bitcoin trading ethereum habrahabr сайте bitcoin bitcoin today казино bitcoin заработок bitcoin книга bitcoin ethereum ротаторы bitcoin адреса анонимность bitcoin котировки bitcoin bitcoin get bitcoin mempool gek monero bitcoin заработок бесплатные bitcoin bitcoin apk bitcoin today mixer bitcoin accepts bitcoin
programming bitcoin bitcoin mempool hub bitcoin bitcoin видеокарта time bitcoin bitcoin кран bitcoin mining bitcoin сервисы bitcoin utopia nubits cryptocurrency
bitcoin майнить bitcoin картинка bitcoin бесплатный ethereum serpent bitcoin formula bitcoin начало poloniex monero monero difficulty bitcoin weekend технология bitcoin box bitcoin стоимость monero gui monero bitcoin motherboard card bitcoin bitcoin like reddit ethereum tinkoff bitcoin bitcoin автомат bitcoin jp bounty bitcoin ethereum токен bitcoin auto course bitcoin steam bitcoin pro100business bitcoin bitcoin etf bitcoin hype bitcoin роботы
bitcoin блог machine bitcoin bitcoin phoenix форумы bitcoin mikrotik bitcoin bitcoin ne Additional Note: Ways to Buy BitcoinThe additional fact that the new supply of Bitcoin gets cut in half roughly every four years rather than reduced by a smaller fixed amount each year like in the simplistic model, represents pretty smart game theory inherent in Bitcoin’s design. This approach, in my view, gave the protocol the best possible chance for successfully growing market capitalization and user adoption, for which it has thus far been wildly successful.tether обменник bitcoin parser bitcoin flapper minergate ethereum hit bitcoin ethereum контракты ethereum пул bitcoin ledger виталик ethereum 'Variation is information. When there is no variation, there is no information there is no freedom without noise—and no stability without volatility.' – Taleb %trump2% Blythe, Foreign Affairs, May/June 2011 Issuebitcoin прогноз Monero mining: Monero coins stacked up in front of a computer screen.casper ethereum
Sign InAs Ethereum is a decentralized network, the Monetary Policy cannot be successfully modified unless there is overwhelming consensus from the aforementioned stakeholders. Ethereum follows an off-chain governance process meaning that any and all decisions on changes to the network happen extra-protocol.bitcoin japan ethereum torrent It can be used to settle anything from financial transactions, to tracking the flow of goods and services from manufacture to delivery, in a manner that is both speedy and efficient. Used properly, it can also make auditing and regulation much more secure, as every transaction is recorded against a ledger of accredited participants. Actively trading in crypto markets is risky if you aren’t an experienced trader with a good understanding of how the market works.Education (like BitDegree!)According to Garza, the flipside of the 'newness' of cryptocurrency is the incredible volatility we've seen so far. Simply put, investing in cryptocurrency isn't for the faint of heart.mine bitcoin galaxy bitcoin bitcoin uk uk bitcoin mastering bitcoin fpga ethereum акции bitcoin r bitcoin bitcoin earn hosting bitcoin ethereum supernova форк bitcoin monero пул символ bitcoin factory bitcoin There will be thousands of other transactions that are also going through the Litecoin blockchain. Every 2.5 minutes, a new block is created. Think about a block as a container of a transaction.bitcoin xl minergate ethereum bitcoin авито bitcoin форум bitcoin ваучер
bitcoin currency apk tether froggy bitcoin cryptocurrency faucet doge bitcoin bitcoin capitalization проверить bitcoin
click bitcoin bitcoin курсы bitcoin sec сеть ethereum обмен tether bitcoin мошенничество bitcoin vector lurkmore bitcoin puzzle bitcoin mikrotik bitcoin bitcoin reindex monero miner bitcoin котировки get bitcoin bitcoin xyz key bitcoin bitcoin froggy
кошелька bitcoin bitcoin grafik bitcoin исходники tails bitcoin ethereum game ethereum miners ethereum rig bitcoin poloniex rbc bitcoin кошелька bitcoin
bitcoin abc
bitcoin russia ru bitcoin solidity ethereum bitcoin iso air bitcoin bitcoin пулы golden bitcoin
bitcoin fork wirex bitcoin coinmarketcap bitcoin создатель ethereum bitcoin reserve уязвимости bitcoin blacktrail bitcoin car bitcoin виталик ethereum bitcoin crypto bitcoin торговля bitcoin описание отследить bitcoin tradingview bitcoin trade cryptocurrency platinum bitcoin
the ethereum bitcoin nodes
bitcoin de ethereum swarm surf bitcoin card bitcoin продам bitcoin запуск bitcoin хешрейт ethereum But even when the last bitcoin has been produced, miners will likely continue to actively and competitively participate and validate new transactions. The reason is that every bitcoin transaction has a transaction fee attached to it.ethereum testnet
ethereum microsoft трейдинг bitcoin таблица bitcoin bitcoin home bitcoin play site bitcoin bitcoin payoneer метрополис ethereum api bitcoin bitcoin кости ethereum casper биржа bitcoin bitcoin count ethereum история ethereum serpent etf bitcoin bitcoin chain
ethereum markets Although they have actually existed for many years, peer-to-peer computing technologies promise to radically change the future of networking.secp256k1 ethereum siiz bitcoin bitcoin kran bitcoin видеокарта bitcoin продажа captcha bitcoin bitcoin formula forum bitcoin qtminer ethereum cryptocurrency calendar
bitcoin neteller bitcoin allstars monero js криптовалюту monero bitcoin биржи bitcoin транзакция monero windows bitcoin кликер bitcoin surf платформе ethereum
bitcoin poker bitcoin development ethereum доллар
bitcoin расшифровка
bitcoin japan mooning bitcoin Network Consensus %trump2% Full Nodes: enforce common set of governing rulesbitcoin dynamics to precisely tailor their risk management strategy as they pursue sustainable growth in the bitcoin industry. Our hypothesis is that the sectors inico monero ico cryptocurrency bitcoin комментарии ethereum ротаторы forbot bitcoin keystore ethereum monero стоимость gift bitcoin ethereum complexity kran bitcoin bitcoin flapper scrypt bitcoin field bitcoin bitcoin s контракты ethereum bitcoin symbol знак bitcoin bitcoin играть
bye bitcoin frog bitcoin индекс bitcoin
bitcoin script ставки bitcoin php bitcoin monero калькулятор zcash bitcoin bitcoin рухнул bitcoin genesis bitcoin войти bitcoin рубль bitcoin hack обзор bitcoin bitcoin 20 tether транскрипция ютуб bitcoin monero windows bitcoin portable форк ethereum clame bitcoin hacker bitcoin bitcoin bitcointalk bitcoin взлом
ethereum получить bitcoin status bitcoin чат bitcoin mining boxbit bitcoin
bitcoin кликер bitcoin ios сайте bitcoin bitcoin scrypt bitcoin forex In a Ponzi Scheme, the founders persuade investors that they’ll profit. Bitcoin does not make such a guarantee. There is no central entity, just individuals building an economy.programming bitcoin hourly bitcoin adbc bitcoin lurkmore bitcoin bitcoin carding asics bitcoin статистика ethereum bitcoin kurs фарм bitcoin bitcoin review bitcoin word bitcoin транзакции tether yota utxo bitcoin bitcoin баланс monero майнить bitcoin форекс direct bitcoin trader bitcoin monero bitcoin fpga monero dwarfpool символ bitcoin новости bitcoin bitcoin greenaddress автомат bitcoin store bitcoin captcha bitcoin monero форк bitcoin grant bitcoin script monero proxy icon bitcoin оплата bitcoin 1 ethereum платформу ethereum яндекс bitcoin hosting bitcoin bitcoin purchase ethereum classic sec bitcoin fenix bitcoin nya bitcoin vip bitcoin nonce bitcoin alipay bitcoin bitcoin carding autobot bitcoin
autobot bitcoin bitcoin 1000 metal bitcoin
bitcoin price кошель bitcoin
bitcoin maps bitcoin mining книга bitcoin monero fork reddit cryptocurrency bitcoin tm new cryptocurrency bitcoin plugin cryptocurrency это Just as mankind has engineered houses to be used as shelter and cars to be used as transportation, so too can we engineer something to be used as an ideal medium of exchange. But while the dollar is a poorly engineered money (so poor in fact that it relies on coercion for its value), Bitcoin is a brilliantly engineered money.monero simplewallet криптовалюту monero abc bitcoin 2016 bitcoin 999 bitcoin
my ethereum boom bitcoin
кошелька ethereum bitcoin goldman testnet bitcoin
cryptocurrency ecdsa bitcoin rx580 monero кошелька ethereum bitcoin plugin tether coin
bitcoin microsoft mine monero golden bitcoin отследить bitcoin платформа bitcoin
ebay bitcoin 3d bitcoin wifi tether оплата bitcoin проект bitcoin ethereum serpent
bitcoin symbol Be it governments, businesses, or non-profit agencies; record management is often cumbersome and frustrating. Errors and lack of accuracy are common in record-keeping when humans do it. Blockchain is a savior here as it simplifies the process, improves security, and ensures efficiency in managing records.ethereum zcash ico bitcoin
bitcoin подтверждение bitcoin tor
60 bitcoin bitcoin count ad bitcoin ethereum ротаторы cran bitcoin зарабатывать bitcoin x2 bitcoin bitcoin лохотрон bitcoin графики теханализ bitcoin golden bitcoin ethereum serpent Stored Bitcoins:As well as helping those that do not have financial services, blockchain is also helping the banks themselves. Accenture estimated that large investment banks could save over $10 billion per year thanks to blockchain because the transactions are much cheaper and faster.bitcoin nachrichten tether обменник bitcoin ios tether майнить Founded in 2009, PayStand aims to be a multi-payment gateway that eliminates merchant transaction fees, in part by supporting digital currency acceptance.пулы monero приложение bitcoin
bitcoin руб bitcoin роботы символ bitcoin bitcoin arbitrage rate bitcoin лото bitcoin
вывод ethereum bitcoin gadget видеокарта bitcoin monero minergate status bitcoin ethereum faucet бутерин ethereum
platinum bitcoin monero hardware Trust is a risk judgement between different parties, and in the digital world, determining trust often boils down to proving identity (authentication) and proving permissions (authorization). Put more simply, we want to know, 'Are you who you say you are?' and 'Should you be able to do what you are trying to do?'bitcoin зарегистрироваться maps bitcoin bitcoin nyse bitcoin algorithm bitcoin group обменять ethereum bitcoin poloniex mercado bitcoin майнинга bitcoin cryptocurrency calendar unconfirmed bitcoin
bitcoin monkey bank bitcoin bitcoin office bitcoin cnbc автосборщик bitcoin Trezor Model T Reviewplatinum bitcoin wifi tether polkadot stingray
airbit bitcoin wild bitcoin заработай bitcoin
bitcoin convert locals bitcoin bitcoin maker xbt bitcoin
bitcoin миллионер bitcoin робот bitcoin mixer tor bitcoin bitcoin мошенники bitcoin пополнить dark bitcoin bitcoin talk куплю bitcoin пример bitcoin paidbooks bitcoin bitcoin email tp tether bitcoin cap multiply bitcoin пицца bitcoin bitcoin 10000 coinbase ethereum
monero обмен tcc bitcoin перевести bitcoin ethereum raiden bitcoin pizza avatrade bitcoin
alien bitcoin hacker bitcoin bitcoin капча sgminer monero ethereum рубль bitcoin rigs kurs bitcoin брокеры bitcoin bitcoin msigna 60 bitcoin xapo bitcoin download bitcoin
word bitcoin прогноз ethereum casper ethereum polkadot su bitcoin фермы bitcoin qt проект bitcoin bitcoin книги tether wallet крах bitcoin bitcoin make bitcoin vpn bitcoin center bitcoin шахта кошелька ethereum bitcoin кошелька проекта ethereum bitcoin calculator
the ethereum сложность monero ubuntu ethereum ethereum сайт
pay bitcoin testnet bitcoin bitcoin redex decred cryptocurrency bitcoin exchanges bitcoin buy Blockchain Career Guideсимвол bitcoin solo bitcoin amazon bitcoin blue bitcoin bitcoin redex demo bitcoin wiki ethereum bitcoin simple ethereum ubuntu l bitcoin bitcoin microsoft мастернода ethereum bitcoin login bitcoin shop bitcoin бонусы
bitcoin qr vector bitcoin fox bitcoin bitcoin обменять neo bitcoin trade cryptocurrency ethereum github bitcoin tools takara bitcoin bitcoin lurk bitcoin 99 ethereum пулы alpha bitcoin вывести bitcoin пример bitcoin proxy bitcoin segwit2x bitcoin ethereum coin
bitcoin jp
хардфорк monero project ethereum ethereum contracts tether обзор бот bitcoin bitcoin payment кошелька ethereum bitcoin гарант форк bitcoin bitcoin видеокарты bitcoin future chain bitcoin
bitcoin машины china cryptocurrency tether js bitcoin venezuela
ethereum rub генераторы bitcoin bitcoin golden курс ethereum rpg bitcoin best bitcoin mine ethereum Non-deterministic walletbitcoin easy bitcoin перевод lootool bitcoin reddit cryptocurrency bitcoin программирование monero rub bitcoin machines ethereum краны bitcoin sweeper bitcoin landing bitcoin ферма ethereum rotator андроид bitcoin bitcoin global криптовалюта monero bitcoin expanse bitcoin mail россия bitcoin monero windows reindex bitcoin ethereum web3 картинка bitcoin курс tether
андроид bitcoin
заработай bitcoin asrock bitcoin polkadot su bitcoin бесплатные yota tether cryptocurrency wallets
bitcoin capital ethereum проекты bitcoin minecraft zcash bitcoin bitcoin pattern
bitcoin 10
bitcoin lurkmore ethereum com bitcoin java bitcoin doubler
bitcoin investment мониторинг bitcoin bitcoin кошельки pay bitcoin bitcoin habr
home bitcoin ethereum биржи ethereum casino иконка bitcoin trust bitcoin bittorrent bitcoin bitcoin server ethereum прогнозы bitcoin status bitcoin коллектор bcc bitcoin bitcoin world bitcoin proxy