The Prospect of Building a New International Monetary System Is Getting Real

Jeremy Allaire is co-founder, chairman and CEO of Circle, which, with Coinbase, pioneered the open standards CENTRE Consortium and USD Coin - a dollar-backed stablecoin used in millions of financial transactions around the world.

Public blockchains made it possible to create global stablecoins, entirely digital representations of either fiat-pegged or fiat-backed central bank money that can be used and exchanged over the open internet similar to how we can easily exchange digital content.

Stablecoins are so transformative they've enticed the world's largest technology companies and some of the most powerful countries to prioritize blockchain and crypto technologies.

Stablecoins have rapidly emerged as one of the most important foundational components of blockchain-based financial infrastructure.

Unlike proposed Central Bank Digital Currencies, most stablecoins are designed to operate on public or semi-public blockchains, inheriting many of the most powerful attributes of cryptocurrencies - open, global, interoperable use over the internet, and the ability to integrate and use such currencies within smart contracts.

The first generation of stablecoins were issued and tightly controlled by individual private companies.

CENTRE stablecoins are designed to be multi-issuer, multi-currency and multi-chain.

The first CENTRE stablecoin, U.S. Dollar Coin, is now the fastest-growing stablecoin and the second-largest stablecoin in the market.

At Davos, I'll be catalyzing a discussion about stablecoins in general and how central banks, regulators and the private sector can work together to create standards for stablecoins backed by central bank reserve deposits and ensure that stablecoins benefit the public and comply with new, well designed regulatory regimes.

Global stablecoins and public blockchains point us towards a new architecture for the global economy built for the digital age, creating a financial system that is more inclusive, efficient, innovative, safe, secure and that helps create wealth and value for all who participate.