Decentralized
> the transfer of authority, decision-making, or operational functions away from a central authority to smaller, local, or distributed nodes, systems, or entities
Most Treasuries are held by US banks, investment firms and municipalities. I'm pretty sure those firms hold a good chunk of global stablecoin volume, given the nonexistent regulation of crypto in the US relative to other countries.
No-one in the real world wants to be paid with a $USR. Most everyone wants a cashapp/zelle/PayPal/wire transfer. The bullshit payment systems gained ground on crypto while crypto became more difficult/less usable
If you track the FATFs crushing of bearer bonds, bearer notes, non-KYC/non-AML offshore banking, and Hawala it almost perfectly tracks with the rise of crypto.
I don't know what USR is, but I would prefer to be paid in USDT or USC if Wealthsimple supported it as deposit method. When I withdraw, I do Deel -> Wise -> Interac e-Transfer -> Bank -> Interac e-Transfer -> Wealthsimple. This is incredibly stupid and I am forced to buy Canadian dollars. For groceries or electronics, you can buy gift cards using crypto.
But you do have to deal with bullshit payment systems. I can't receive stablecoins in my regular bank account, I'd have to set up some crypto nonsense on DankRocketBets or whatever for it to even work.
Why would I do this when I can already receive actual USD without any extra ceremony?
Stablecoins are a solution in search of a problem.
The problem presents itself when you have dirty money to launder. It isn't a product for non-criminals but they have to convince enough gullible people to participate and blend in with them.
If your employer does direct deposit of USD into your USD bank account, you don't need stable coins. This is not the case for most people outside of the U.S.
Most people don't realize they're inside a plexiglass shielded financial jail until they try to do something like wiring money for some legal activity in someplace spicy or on the FATF grey list.
If you fall into the middle bands of uses, or in the upper class that can just bend or make the rules, then the financial system is well oiled and it looks like the people questioning it are just cranks.
It's true that a lot of those in the outer bands are criminals but others are things like "buying a truck to build an orphanage for starving Iraqi children just outside of terrorist territory" or "wanted an investment visa in some corrupt island paradise and as it turns out no bank will open up account for purposes of 'international wires to the Comoros' "
Oh yeah, "most people outside the US" are looking to build orphanages in deeply sanctioned war zones. How could I have forgotten.
Come on now, that's absurd. If this is your best use case for stablecoins - groping for concocted scenarios to rationalise their existence
- I stand by what I said earlier: they're a solution in search of a problem.
Stablecoins enable cash-like (instantly redeemable and verifiable) payments for large amounts, for almost free.
In EU countries, you can't now buy a car with cash. You have to buy a bearer's check from your bank, which is expensive, requires that both parties have a brick and mortar bank, and doesn't work cross-border. Stablecoins solve this.
It was good while ago, but last time I bought a car I just did bank transfer. SEPA transfers are entirely free. Was kinda amazed that they just handed me keys when I showed them the receipt from my own online bank...
If you get scammed, it requires you to sue, many EU countries have very long waiting times for those, so you'll be carless and money less for a long time. Cash or crypto solves this elegantly.
Many EU countries have limits on cash payments, and the EU will enforce a union-wide limit of 10,000€ in 2027. Of course, this limit won't be reevaluated over time, so the real value will decrease with inflation.
The use case would be for transactions between individuals. A friend working at a large industrial firm told me recently that crypto would solve a problem that they have in Asia: orders are often done during auctions from the producer, and require instant payments; however the payment rails take two weeks to clear a transaction. Crypto would fix this.
The fact that it's not widespread doesn't mean that there isn't a usecase.