Fed Governor Says Stablecoin Demand Could Lower Interest Rates
Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran says rising stablecoin demand could lower U.S. interest rates.
In a speech to economists in New York on Friday (Nov. 7), Miran said the surge of dollar-pegged tokens could reduce the so-called “r-star,” or the “neutral” rate of interest that neither promotes nor hinders growth.
If this happens, the central bank may need to lower its own policy rate to avoid unintentionally slowing the economy, said Miran, whose comments were reported by CNBC.
“Stablecoins may become a multitrillion-dollar elephant in the room for central bankers,” he said. “Stablecoins are already increasing demand for U.S. Treasury bills and other dollar-denominated liquid assets by purchasers outside the United States, and this demand will continue growing.”
The CNBC report noted that Miran has used his time on the Fed board to campaign for aggressive rate cuts, partially because he thinks the neutral rate is markedly lower than most of his colleagues assume.
These latest remarks, the report added, extend this belief into the world of digital finance, indicating that the rise of stablecoins could structurally reduce borrowing costs for years to come.
“Even relatively conservative estimates of stablecoin growth imply an increase in the net supply of loanable funds in the economy that pushes down” the neutral rate, Miran said. If neutral is lower, he added, “policy rates should also be lower than they would otherwise be to support a healthy economy. A failure of the central bank to cut rates in response to a reduction in [r-star] is contractionary.”
In other stablecoin news, PYMNTS wrote last month about the way that the corporate playbook around these digital assets is evolving.
“While much of the optimism surrounding stablecoins comes from their grassroots adoption among retail users in emerging markets,” that report said. “But the next phase, the one now unfolding quietly inside corporate finance departments and FinTechs, could be even more transformative.”
Large enterprises have begun looking into stablecoins not as speculative assets but as operational tools. A report by blockchain analytics TRM found that B2B transfers made up the bulk of stablecoin payments over the first half of this year at $6.4 billion, while peer-to-peer consumer transactions came to $1.6 billion monthly.
“For multinational firms, stablecoins offer instant settlement across borders without the delays or fees of Swift and correspondent banking,” PYMNTS wrote.
“Treasury teams can move value between subsidiaries, contractors or vendors in different time zones within seconds, rather than waiting days. That speed is not cosmetic — it changes working capital management. Liquidity that was previously trapped in cross-border settlement pipelines can now be deployed more dynamically.”
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