Bank of Korea Governor Lee Chang-young said on the 15th that the growth of stablecoins such as Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) is a challenge for central banks around the world because, despite their names, they often lack stability. It was announced that Yonhap News reported.

“This highlights the urgency for central banks, whether retail or wholesale, to consider introducing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs),” Li said, adding, “If they become widely adopted, This could reduce the role of central bank money and undermine the effectiveness of monetary policy.”

This week, attention has been focused on the ability of stablecoins, crypto assets whose value is pegged to fiat currencies such as the dollar and euro, to maintain their pegs. On the 13th, rating agency S&P introduced a system to accurately evaluate its characteristics, and rated Tether, the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, second from the bottom on a five-point rating scale. None of the eight crypto assets evaluated received the highest rating.

Governor Lee also revealed that the Bank of Korea is working on a wholesale CBDC trial and is considering its use in real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. The bank has already announced plans for a retail pilot scheme involving 100,000 people next year.

｜Translation and editing: Rinan Hayashi
｜Image: Bank of Korea
｜Original text: Bank of Korea Governor Sees CBDC Introduction as Case for ‘Urgency:’ Report