TECHNOLOGIES

Stablecoin

A blockchain token designed to hold a steady value, usually one unit of a fiat currency, so you can transact on-chain without crypto's price swings.

Last reviewed: 2026-06-02 byKevin Riedl wiki β†—

A stablecoin is a token that tries to stay pegged to a stable asset, almost always the US dollar. The point is to keep the settlement speed and global reach of a blockchain without the volatility that makes Bitcoin or ETH useless as a unit of account. You can hold, send, and receive a stablecoin like email for money: final in seconds, across borders, without a bank in the loop. That is the genuine use case, especially for payments and remittance into and out of regions with weak banking infrastructure.

How the peg holds defines the risk. Fiat-backed stablecoins (USDC, USDT) hold real dollars and treasuries in a bank account and mint one token per dollar. The peg is only as good as the reserves and the issuer’s honesty, which is why reserve attestations matter. Crypto-collateralised stablecoins (DAI) overcollateralise with on-chain assets, trading custody risk for liquidation risk in a market crash. Algorithmic stablecoins try to hold the peg with supply mechanics and no real backing, and the graveyard (Terra/UST, billions evaporated) is the reason serious operators avoid them.

We built payment infrastructure on stablecoin rails (Scramble) and worked on stablecoin-adjacent systems (Zybra), so the position is grounded: stablecoins are the most genuinely useful primitive in crypto for moving value, and the peg is never free. Always know what backs the coin, who can freeze it, and what happens in a run. Our blockchain work treats the peg model as a first-class design decision.

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FAQs

FAQs

A blockchain token engineered to hold a steady value, almost always one US dollar, so you can settle on-chain in seconds across borders without crypto’s volatility. It is the closest thing crypto has to digital cash.
Fiat-backed coins (USDC, USDT) hold real dollars in reserve and are only as trustworthy as those reserves and the issuer. Algorithmic stablecoins hold the peg with supply mechanics and no real backing, and they have a long history of collapsing (Terra/UST). Serious operators stick to well-attested fiat-backed or overcollateralised coins.
Never free. Fiat-backed coins carry reserve and freeze risk (the issuer can blacklist an address). Overcollateralised coins carry liquidation risk in a crash. Algorithmic coins carry de-peg-to-zero risk. Always know what backs the coin, who can freeze it, and what happens in a bank run.