"Stablecoin should be a capital market-centered structure, not bank-based" - Hashed Open Research

[Financial News] Hashed Open Research expressed in a report on the 29th that the starting point of discussions on the institutionalization of stablecoins should be 'designing a workable structure' rather than 'preparing regulations'.
Amid the rising issue of the need to introduce KRW-based stablecoins to secure currency leadership in the digital transformation era, Hashed Open Research emphasized that stablecoins are essential for Korea to design a participatory economic order based on Web3 and leap to 'Digital G2'. Furthermore, they viewed that a capital market-centered structure design is more desirable than a regulation-centered bank-based model.
Hashed Open Research analyzed that trust in virtual assets does not come from 'who guarantees it' like currency issued by central banks, but from the design structure intricately linked with smart contracts, real-time reserve audits, and automatic redemption algorithms.
The 'currency of the digital era', including stablecoins, is diversifying its operators into a tripartite structure of states, banks, and tech companies. Among them, especially stablecoins issued by tech companies lack an entity to guarantee them, unlike traditional currency assets where governments or central banks create creditworthiness.
Instead, Hashed Open Research stated that the design structure of stablecoins, such as smart contracts technically created by private companies, real-time disclosure and audit of reserve assets, and redemption algorithms, becomes the basis of trust. They believe that the level of reliability of blockchain systems and tokenomics provides 'a reason to trust' to stablecoin holders.
However, they diagnosed that the currently discussed 'bank-based model' in Korea does not sufficiently reflect these characteristics of stablecoins. If the issuer is limited to banks or bank-equivalent institutions, as in the EU's MiCA regulations or Japan's stablecoin-related laws, which Korea is likely to refer to, compatibility with De-Fi or global payment systems will significantly decrease, and the tokenomics design centered on the holder ecosystem will be virtually blocked. In fact, despite the hasty enactment of laws, the utilization rate in the blockchain ecosystem and presence in the international liquidity market of European and Japanese stablecoins remain at a minimal level.
To complement these limitations, they proposed a 'capital market-based model' as an alternative. In this model, various private entities such as asset management companies, fintech, and specialized corporations participate as issuers, and reserve assets are diversified into not only cash but also money market funds (MMF), government bonds, etc., to secure both liquidity and profitability. Additionally, through smart contracts, the issuance, burning, and redemption procedures of tokens can be automated to implement real-time audits and technological connectivity such as API.
Tether (USDT), Circle (USDC), TrueUSD (TUSD), etc., have proven trust and secured structural superiority through this capital market-based model, according to Hashed Open Research. By benchmarking this, Korea can also secure the practical competitiveness of its stablecoin service if it establishes mutual certification systems with various global issuers such as Circle, Paxos, MakerDAO, PayPal, etc.
Kim Yong-beom, CEO of Hashed Open Research, said, "Considering the characteristics of currency in the digital era, a capital market-based structure is not just a policy choice but the only choice compatible with the global structure," adding, "Korea has the technological capability and private participation capacity to support this, so we should shift the frame to become an 'active player' co-designing the currency order of the digital era, not just a 'regulation permitter'."

localplace@fnnews.com Kim Hyun-ji Reporter