Agustín Carstens Says Fiat Money And Stablecoins Can Coexist At Point Zero Forum

Agustín Carstens, former general manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), said at the Point Zero Forum on Tuesday that “We should try to establish conditions where we can live with fiat money and stablecoins.”

Carstens’ remarks came as his earlier BIS criticism of stablecoins—such as his January 2022 warning that stablecoins may not function as “sound money”—was contrasted with his more favorable view in the Point Zero Forum address.

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The same coverage says Carstens’ June 2025 BIS warning still centered on liquidity risk and that stablecoins “still fell short of the three key tests money must fulfill to serve society.”

In April, Carstens’ successor and current BIS general manager, Pablo Hernández de Cos, said the stablecoin market remains “small” and that its structural features constrain its ability to function as money.

A BIS preview released Tuesday ahead of its Annual Economic Report 2026 argued that current stablecoin designs fall short of key properties that underpin trust in money and warned that widespread adoption could create challenges for financial stability, bank funding and monetary sovereignty.

The coverage also says the BIS endorsed bringing tokenization into the two-tier banking system, arguing that digital representations of assets could enable new forms of programmable finance while preserving trust in money.

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Carstens’ call for coexistence is framed alongside the BIS position that stablecoins are private assets dependent on reserves, issuer rules, and circulation infrastructure.

ForkLog reports that BIS published a chapter from the Annual Economic Report 2026 on digital money and tokenization on June 23, stating that stablecoins “do not meet the basic properties of trusted money and may pose risks to financial stability, bank funding, and monetary sovereignty.”

Carstens said stablecoins need global regulation to flourish, adding that “this has to be a cooperative effort worldwide. And I see this lagging behind.”

The coverage points to the GENIUS Act as the US framework for payment stablecoins, signed into law in July 2025, requiring 100% reserves in high-quality liquid assets such as cash and short-term US Treasurys.

In the European Union, the same reporting says stablecoin issuers are regulated under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), which requires issuers to obtain authorization, publish an approved white paper, maintain full reserve backing and segregate reserve assets from company funds.

The crypto market backdrop in the same set of articles includes Canton (CC) generating $60.8 million in fees over the past thirty days while CC trades near a flag support near $0.1497, with Open Interest surging 5% to 29 million as of press time.