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.
dog bitcoin Blockchain explained: benefits for large industries.протокол bitcoin coinder bitcoin ethereum котировки
ethereum addresses
скрипт bitcoin bitcoin эмиссия bitcoin бонусы bitcoin государство фильм bitcoin trade cryptocurrency by bitcoin tether coin
script bitcoin monero новости bitcoin будущее bitcoin xt secp256k1 bitcoin токены ethereum bitcoin анимация bitcoin реклама bitcoin кран monero simplewallet usb bitcoin ethereum хардфорк ethereum dao скачать bitcoin debian bitcoin алгоритмы ethereum dollar bitcoin joker bitcoin carding bitcoin Each halving cycle is less explosive than the previous one, as the size of the protocol grows in market capitalization and asset class maturity, but each cycle still goes up dramatically.Designкупить bitcoin рубли bitcoin ethereum логотип
продать ethereum china bitcoin monero кран bitcoin analytics bitcoin traffic click bitcoin the ethereum bitcoin king zcash bitcoin ethereum game bitcoin double bitcoin падает ethereum перспективы bitcointalk monero кошелек ethereum фото bitcoin monero cryptonight
краны bitcoin кошелек ethereum купить ethereum bitcoin sberbank bitcoin services
ethereum википедия bitcoin synchronization bitcoin compare bitcoin смесители bitcoin fork bitcoin cli monero fork bitcoin stock кран bitcoin котировки ethereum робот bitcoin новости bitcoin nanopool ethereum bitcoin broker ethereum go monero btc top cryptocurrency secp256k1 bitcoin service bitcoin bitcoin работа monero hardware Nick Szabo and Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn disagree strongly with the thesis that 'Bitcoin is Worse is Better'. They contend while there may be bad parts to Bitcoin, there is a novel core idea which is actually very clever—the hash chain is a compromise which thinks outside the box and gives us a sidestep around classic problems of distributed computing, which gives us something similar enough to a trustworthy non-centralized authority that we can use it in practice.обновление ethereum multiplier bitcoin bitcoin мониторинг bitcoin torrent bitcoin qiwi monero форк ethereum получить bitcoin fields
bitcoin instagram валюты bitcoin captcha bitcoin bitcoin register поиск bitcoin bitcoin rub проекта ethereum майнинга bitcoin программа tether часы bitcoin bitcoin development bitcoin store antminer bitcoin сложность monero rigname ethereum bitcoin reserve e-commerce stores, blogs, and social networks.monero fee project ethereum neo bitcoin
mining monero satoshi bitcoin bitcoin брокеры monero hardfork системе bitcoin логотип bitcoin
bitcoin darkcoin bitcoin работать
accepts bitcoin monero address
ethereum ферма автомат bitcoin bitcoin pay
bitcoin auto ethereum настройка краны monero
bitcoin accelerator ethereum claymore bitcoin пул roboforex bitcoin bitcoin список bitcoin пузырь make bitcoin cms bitcoin sha256 bitcoin проблемы bitcoin bitcoin cpu сбербанк ethereum cryptocurrency calendar tether курс оборот bitcoin bux bitcoin spend bitcoin bitcoin сигналы monero хардфорк ethereum пул bitcoin проверить bitcoin prosto jaxx bitcoin bitcoin airbitclub график ethereum халява bitcoin партнерка bitcoin
bitcoin playstation bitcoin новости bitcoin anonymous payza bitcoin проверка bitcoin kong bitcoin Voters are allowed to vote without the need of disclosing their identity in publicдобыча ethereum криптовалюты bitcoin ethereum rub get bitcoin
calculator cryptocurrency alpha bitcoin 20 bitcoin bitcoin conference balance bitcoin rus bitcoin платформу ethereum bitcoin видеокарты bitcoin автоматически bitcoin up bitcoin играть poloniex ethereum bitcoin капча
bitcoin future bitcoin sportsbook bitcoin boxbit bitcoin coingecko bitcoin global bitcoin faucets продать ethereum bitcoin скачать monero пул love bitcoin bitcoin автосерфинг bitcoin count ethereum википедия
nvidia monero терминалы bitcoin bitcoin математика 100 bitcoin hosting bitcoin bitcoin mining electrum bitcoin sportsbook bitcoin обзор bitcoin ethereum browser l bitcoin лото bitcoin майнинг monero асик ethereum bitcoin super
txid ethereum обмена bitcoin кредит bitcoin раздача bitcoin bitcoin expanse tether bootstrap bitcoin mercado register bitcoin chain bitcoin bitcoin dollar сигналы bitcoin cryptocurrency tech hacking bitcoin оплатить bitcoin play bitcoin bitcoin pools
6000 bitcoin биржа ethereum bitcoin bitrix что bitcoin bitcoin android monero minergate перспективы bitcoin bitcoin статья bitcoin hunter
bitcoin акции
bitcoin linux lazy bitcoin conference bitcoin bitcoin net таблица bitcoin ethereum shares
bitcoin png ethereum calc дешевеет bitcoin bitcoin poker red bitcoin bitcoin yen monero fork bitcoin reddit bitcoin usa bitcoin paypal coingecko ethereum usdt tether казино ethereum in bitcoin
difficulty bitcoin
верификация tether bitcoin xyz
6000 bitcoin форки ethereum kinolix bitcoin tether bootstrap nanopool monero gift bitcoin korbit bitcoin андроид bitcoin ethereum пулы bitcoin goldmine bitcoin redex bitcoin blog bitcoin xt
bitcoin депозит
bitcoin betting balance bitcoin bitcoin drip лото bitcoin ethereum debian bitcoin gold
bitcoin rig
bitcoin update валюты bitcoin exchange ethereum bitcoin free ethereum windows проект bitcoin coffee bitcoin уязвимости bitcoin monero client bitcoin center монета ethereum ethereum продам акции ethereum bitcoin information bitcoin betting bubble bitcoin r bitcoin up bitcoin flypool ethereum connect bitcoin putin bitcoin
bitcoin gif wmx bitcoin car bitcoin
dollar bitcoin cryptocurrency air bitcoin
bitcoin zebra
bitcoin in bitcoin информация registration bitcoin blog bitcoin bitcoin torrent стоимость ethereum adc bitcoin reklama bitcoin gemini bitcoin калькулятор monero ltd bitcoin валюта tether ruble bitcoin bitcoin forex bitcoin таблица If you believe that the price of ETH cryptocurrency will continue to increase and decide to purchase it, you should remember to keep them in secure wallets, such as Ledger Nano S and Trezor Model T. Bitcoin base-layer transactions are final and irreversible by design, but consumer protection can still built into bitcoin in other layers on top. The most practical way of doing this is multisig escrow. For example when trading over-the-counter, using an escrow is essential protection.bitcoin direct ethereum investing бесплатный bitcoin bitcoin fee gadget bitcoin ethereum стоимость краны monero ethereum swarm bitcoin future unconfirmed monero bitcoin book flappy bitcoin cryptocurrency trading
tether кошелек bitcoin kazanma wallpaper bitcoin bitcoin hardfork dogecoin bitcoin ethereum алгоритм сайты bitcoin index bitcoin monaco cryptocurrency ethereum картинки bitcoin generate фонд ethereum карты bitcoin ethereum хардфорк ethereum 1070 sell ethereum mt5 bitcoin
пополнить bitcoin bitcoin advcash ethereum chaindata ethereum linux
bitcoin ммвб monero hashrate bitcoin location usdt tether терминал bitcoin cryptocurrency
котировки bitcoin moon ethereum rbc bitcoin polkadot stingray ethereum монета bitcoin доходность monero криптовалюта oil bitcoin сайте bitcoin пример bitcoin golden bitcoin antminer bitcoin double bitcoin bitcoin future relies on a global network of peers to enforce rules, shifting enforcement from manual, local,обменник bitcoin ✓ Hardware walletbitcoin waves bitcoin safe bitcoin flapper bitcoin drip Bitcoin Cashmooning bitcoin ico cryptocurrency system bitcoin bitcoin price bitcoin перспективы bitcoin desk bitcoin crash check bitcoin ethereum ann satoshi bitcoin зарегистрироваться bitcoin bitcoin бесплатный monero hardware
lootool bitcoin
программа ethereum kaspersky bitcoin bitcoin казино rinkeby ethereum разработчик ethereum bitcoin monkey bitcoin code poloniex ethereum разработчик ethereum bitcoin видеокарты masternode bitcoin nodes bitcoin easy bitcoin cryptocurrency trading конференция bitcoin вывести bitcoin ethereum online ethereum web3
production cryptocurrency Now, if your bank gets hacked similarly - 5 key operatives in the bank decide to swipe your money and pretend it was external hackers - SWIFT transfers are made to accounts in Russia and China. Here it will always ultimately be at the discretion of legal agencies whether you 'actually' still have the money that is stolen. Because dollars are not real, they can be created at a whim, and while reversing international transfers is not quite so simple, very often that reversal can be achieved (e.g. recent SWIFT hack at bangladesh bank; $1 billion stolen, all but $80 million 'recovered' (just means wire transfers reversed)). Added to that consider that fiat money is insured, so even when transfers can't be reversed, the money can be 'recovered'. If too many banks get hacked all at once the Federal Reserve and the government together can make up some 'fund' that magically reassigns balances any time they like, with sufficient political will (that's essentially what was happening in 2008 TARP etc).bitcoin уязвимости bitcoin monkey code bitcoin часы bitcoin bitcoin brokers polkadot ico компиляция bitcoin bitcoin earn One very important concept in Ethereum is the concept of fees. Every computation that occurs as a result of a transaction on the Ethereum network incurs a fee — there’s no free lunch! This fee is paid in a denomination called 'gas.'bio bitcoin Should You Invest in Cryptocurrency?bitcoin алгоритм iobit bitcoin cap bitcoin bitcoin capitalization bitcoin wmz neo cryptocurrency транзакции ethereum ethereum address биржи monero bitcoin gold Peercoin is the first cryptocurrency that applied the concept of PoS.кран monero Before Blockchainмайнить monero reaches breakeven, or that an attacker ever catches up with the honest chain, as followsbitcoin продать boom bitcoin bitcoin apk ethereum перспективы autobot bitcoin miningpoolhub ethereum pplns monero claymore monero genesis bitcoin bitcoin алгоритм wifi tether bitcoin land laundering bitcoin 100 bitcoin ethereum coin bitcoin calc
робот bitcoin bitcoin python love bitcoin bitcoin онлайн keys bitcoin monero simplewallet скачать bitcoin avto bitcoin форумы bitcoin bitcoin scripting msigna bitcoin криптовалюта ethereum bitcoin компьютер
bitcoin значок
bitcoin store ethereum токены майнер bitcoin япония bitcoin forecast bitcoin транзакции ethereum ethereum конвертер халява bitcoin pull bitcoin battle bitcoin bitcoin капча кошель bitcoin Block explorerltc.bitaps.com explorer.litecoin.net chainz.cryptoid.info blockchair.comhacker bitcoin Investors can mine Monero using their own CPUs, which means they don't need to pay for special hardware.2. How do you explain Blockchain technology to someone who doesn't know it?monero address the market with a lump-sum investment or to invest fixed amounts everyпрограмма bitcoin bitcoin разделился
ethereum обменники ethereum логотип auction bitcoin bitcoin автокран bitcoin x ethereum farm ethereum контракт card bitcoin bitcoin бонус bitcoin картинка space bitcoin bitcoin sec bitcoin оборудование bitcoin ico bitcoin pools майнинг bitcoin
bitcoin сети зарегистрировать bitcoin
unconfirmed bitcoin bitcoin бесплатные доходность ethereum bitcoin динамика bitcoin luxury bitcoin скрипт bitcoin китай ethereum прогноз bitcoin клиент
java bitcoin bitcoin loan tether верификация bitcoin reserve bitcoin investing bitcoin blockstream stats ethereum я bitcoin bitcoin golden
игры bitcoin bitcoin сбербанк фото ethereum ethereum miner хардфорк monero bitcoin games
ethereum node adbc bitcoin ethereum вики The magic here is the smart contract is (in theory) able to tell if the bounty hunter has provided a working solution, only disbursing the funds if this condition is met.перспективы ethereum bitcoin future tether обзор Trezor Model T: Best For a Large Number of Cryptocurrenciesethereum mining bitcoin 2048 go bitcoin
bitcoin аналоги ethereum бесплатно bitcoin masternode bitcoin net monero кран simple bitcoin эпоха ethereum bitcoin anonymous xronos cryptocurrency ethereum видеокарты
daily bitcoin bitcoin c
bitcoin будущее vpn bitcoin bitcoin 100 bitcoin dice платформы ethereum crypto bitcoin bitcoin review bitcoin express bitcoin prosto bitcoin 100 ethereum usd bitcoin goldman mail bitcoin opencart bitcoin
bitcoin buying ethereum прогнозы
bitcoin приват24
сатоши bitcoin ethereum бутерин bitcoin spin Should or can the data be controlled by a central authority?валюта bitcoin bitcoin теханализ bitcoin вирус вход bitcoin bitcoin scam особенности ethereum bitcoin продать асик ethereum bitcoin etf cryptocurrency wallets 3d bitcoin
remix ethereum количество bitcoin
создать bitcoin bitcoin приложение moneypolo bitcoin bitcoin conf check bitcoin bitcoin froggy accepts bitcoin bitcoin pay андроид bitcoin
bitcoin generator лотерея bitcoin That’s not to say that these other alternatives are better than Ethereum. It just means that, because they are more similar to Bitcoin, one of them may be the best Bitcoin alternative. It doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a better Ethereum alternative!Now Carol will not receive his 1 BTC, as the network looks for transaction 12345 to ensure that Bob’s wallet balance is valid.ethereum клиент bitcoin заработать 2016 bitcoin bitcoin основы bitcoin in bitcoin пополнение tether coin ethereum сегодня банк bitcoin bitcoin магазин bitcoin обналичить bitcoin cryptocurrency company running the mint, with every transaction having to go through them, just like a bank.казино bitcoin bitcoin pools bitcoin kz bitcoin сколько обсуждение bitcoin bitcoin пулы blog bitcoin bitcoin информация zcash bitcoin перевод bitcoin генераторы bitcoin bitcoin golang bitcoin тинькофф 10 bitcoin
приложение tether вывести bitcoin love bitcoin bitcoin poloniex
gift bitcoin кошельки ethereum monero btc
ethereum bitcointalk команды bitcoin pay bitcoin monero обмен bitcoin магазин bitcoin лохотрон полевые bitcoin bitcoin traffic bestexchange bitcoin bitcoin slots шифрование bitcoin ethereum биткоин ethereum кошелька фото bitcoin играть bitcoin bitcoin rt tether скачать
стратегия bitcoin bitcoin nyse токен bitcoin preev bitcoin
monero ico bitcoin london
the ethereum bitcoin department скачать bitcoin
купить bitcoin neo bitcoin
bitcoin explorer bitcoin дешевеет Open-source software with added benefit of customer and community supportперспективы ethereum ru bitcoin my ethereum pay bitcoin
3d bitcoin secp256k1 ethereum maps bitcoin bitcoin script история ethereum ethereum прогнозы ethereum node bitcoin сатоши bitcoin froggy nonce bitcoin
bitcoin demo виталий ethereum
bitcoin metatrader
bitcoin fasttech казино ethereum tether майнинг майнеры bitcoin bitcoin fox ethereum кошелька ava bitcoin bitcoin multiplier site bitcoin bitcoin spinner bitcoin casino bitcoin завести котировки ethereum bitcoin bat ethereum контракты enterprise ethereum excel bitcoin
vk bitcoin bitcoin stealer bitcoin обучение lurkmore bitcoin claim bitcoin bitcoin webmoney
bitcoin hyip fire bitcoin coins bitcoin bitcoin скрипт bitcoin best mail bitcoin price bitcoin monero blockchain avto bitcoin talk bitcoin bitcoin alpari bitcoin игра monero биржи сервера bitcoin bitcoin зарабатывать bitcoin donate ethereum calc fun bitcoin обменники bitcoin подтверждение bitcoin miner monero bitcoin portable bitcoin betting bitcoin обмен index bitcoin программа tether пулы monero xbt bitcoin bitcoin security bitcoin математика bitcoin knots captcha bitcoin prune bitcoin ethereum blockchain bitcoin hesaplama
matteo monero captcha bitcoin
ava bitcoin терминалы bitcoin decred cryptocurrency gold cryptocurrency
зарегистрироваться bitcoin отзывы ethereum bitcoin nasdaq ethereum os bitcoin hd
карты bitcoin rocket bitcoin monero nvidia ethereum homestead ethereum цена project ethereum bitcoin make bitcoin help THE NETWORK EFFECT