This is an in-person only public event that is free of charge, but booking is essential.
Venue: Bush House North East Wing 9.03 (Non-King's attendees please sign in at the reception desk upon arrival)
Event Description:
A “stablecoin” is a cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to a fiat currency (>99% are pegged to the US dollar) or to gold. Stablecoins are proving useful in payments and have grown to more than $300 billion in circulation. Some important commentators (e.g. Lael Brainard of the Federal Reserve; Hyun Song Shin of the BIS; and academics Gary Gorton and Jeffrey Zhang) have made a case for legally restricting stablecoins by comparing them to the private banknotes issued in the United States before 1860, an era that they characterize as marked by numerous issuing frauds, frequent bank runs and failures, and a lack of widespread par acceptance for banknotes. In fact, the record shows that frauds, runs and failures, and non-par circulation were all rare in minimally restricted private banknote-issuing systems. The US system was not minimally but rather heavily restricted, In particular, branch banking was prohibited both interstate and typically intrastate. Mischaracterization of the US case, especially combined with omission of other nations’ cases, is therefore highly misleading about what to expect from unrestricted stablecoins. Proponents of the US “Genius Act” for restricting dollar stablecoins (signed into law July 2025) predict that it will make stablecoins more popular globally. But the market-leading stablecoin (Tether USD) does not owe its global popularity to government restrictions or supervision, so that prediction is doubtful. The Genius Act does not remedy any apparent market failure. It can be seen instead as a fiscally motivated measure."
About the Speaker:
Larry White is Emeritus Professor of Economics at George Mason University. He is the author of numerous articles and books including The Theory of Monetary Institutions (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999); The Clash of Economic Ideas(Cambridge University Press, 2012), and most recently Better Money (Cambridge University Press, 2023).
