What happened? Nine global banks are teaming up to explore a reserve-backed stablecoin pegged to G7 currencies.
Nine major global banks—including Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America and others—announced they’re exploring a jointly backed, reserve-backed stablecoin pegged to G7 currencies. They say the coin would live on public blockchains, be backed one-to-one by fiat reserves, and they’re already talking to regulators about how it could work. The move follows other industry pilots and reflects a push by traditional banks to move payment rails and tokenization onto blockchain infrastructure.
Who does this affect? Consumers, businesses, crypto firms, banks, and regulators.
This affects a wide range of players: consumers and businesses that make cross-border payments, crypto exchanges and existing stablecoin issuers, and the banks themselves. Emerging-market banks could lose deposits if customers use stablecoins as dollar-like accounts, while big banks stand to gain new revenue streams if they control issuance and settlement. It also matters to tech firms and payment platforms that may partner with or compete against these bank-backed tokens, and to regulators who will need to set the rules.
Why does this matter? It could reshape payments, deposit flows, and who earns settlement revenue in markets worldwide.
If bank-backed stablecoins scale, they could grab a big slice of the global payments market—Bloomberg Intelligence projects blockchain payments could exceed $50 trillion annually by 2030—shifting fees and settlement revenue away from legacy rails. That pressure could force banks to compete on deposit yields and rethink how they earn money on reserves, while existing stablecoin issuers would face a powerful new rival. Overall, widespread adoption would accelerate tokenization of assets, reshape liquidity and settlement infrastructure, and trigger significant regulatory and market shifts across finance.