Are Stablecoins Really "Stable"? Considering Redemption, Settlement, and Revenue Structures ("So That's How It Is Blockchain Ep.15" Yoshihiko Uchida, Yuya Sakai, Shinya Otsuga)

In this podcast, Yoshihiko Uchida, who has a background in banking supervision at the Bank of Japan and the Financial Services Agency and currently teaches blockchain at Shunan University, Yuya Sakai, a founder of a gourmet app who has combined Web2 services with blockchain to build a Web3 business, and Shinya Otsuga, deputy editor-in-chief of the crypto media "New Economy," introduce what you need to know about blockchain today.

In this 15th episode, continuing from the previous one, we discussed the second part of "Existing Finance × Blockchain," focusing on "stablecoins" used as a means of payment, following our previous discussions on "transactions and transfers" and "credit."

First, we confirmed that in Japan, "stablecoins" are not a legal term in themselves, but those linked to the value of legal tender are categorized as "electronic payment means" under the Payment Services Act. We organized the differences in backing assets, management methods, and refund procedures in the event of bankruptcy, focusing on the first type, which is scheduled for redemption at par in legal tender, and the third type, which corresponds to specific trust beneficiary rights and is designed to isolate bankruptcy through trust property, including bank deposits and short-term government bonds with maturities of three months or less.

We also delved into the issue of whether "it really returns at face value," discussing how even if redemption at face value is planned, the market value of held government bonds may decline due to rising interest rates, the fees at redemption, and the fact that while the issuance limit for JPYC is 1 million yen per transaction, this same limit does not directly apply to transfers between wallets. We touched on the example of the algorithmic stablecoin "TerraUSD (UST)" losing its peg to the US dollar and crashing along with its related token "LUNA," confirming that "stable" does not always mean that the value is guaranteed to be at face value.

Furthermore, we confirmed that the outstanding balance of yen-denominated stablecoins at the time of recording is only a small part of the approximately $300 billion total worldwide. We considered whether yen stablecoins are truly necessary, noting that credit card fees are also costs associated with "middlemen" who handle merchant screening and refunds in cases of fraud, and that in low-interest Japan, the revenue from backing asset management is limited, making it difficult for issuers to establish a viable revenue structure.

In episodes 13 to 18, we will explore the basics of existing finance and the potential for integration with blockchain.

The next episode, the 16th, is scheduled to be released on September 7, 2026. We will continue to discuss stablecoins, explaining the ideal "gaps" between existing finance and the Web3 industry.

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