In 2023, residents of 25 countries will be able to use stablecoins as a means of payment as local authorities adopted appropriate legislation for this type of asset.
According to PwC’s latest report, 25 of the 43 countries analyzed passed regulations governing the stablecoin market in 2023. Another ten regions have draft legislation under development or under consideration.
However, there are regions where the authorities didn’t initiate the process of developing a regulatory framework for the stablecoin market. There are eight such countries, including Brazil, India, Cayman Islands, Qatar, Turkey, Taiwan, and Qatar, the report says.
The Global Crypto Regulation Report 2024, in addition to the regulation of stablecoins, also reveals the dynamics of the global regulatory framework for digital assets. In 2023, legislative regulation of cryptocurrencies is in place in 31 of the 43 countries analyzed, and in 36 regions, virtual asset service providers (VASP) are required to obtain a license to operate, comply with anti-money laundering (AML) and travel rules.
Notably, the global level of stablecoin regulation increased significantly over the past year. For example, only six countries in 2022 set regulations for the stablecoin market. The number of nations that implemented crypto market regulation grew by 25% over the year. The main growth catalyst for the number of countries interested in the legal use of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, in particular, was the adoption of the MiCA bill, which will officially enter into force in 27 EU states in early 2024.
Analysts at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) consider stablecoins to be an unreliable means of saving, dangerous for the stability of the money market, thus insisting on their regulation. At the same time, major international organizations, especially S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s, are creating tools to assess the risks of stablecoins.
