The Fed confirms that stablecoins are more efficient than banks and Swift for this reason

Discover how the recent Federal Reserve report and the GENIUS Act position stablecoins as the key infrastructure for efficient global payments and digital liquidity.

The international financial system is undergoing a period of profound analysis, driven by the rise of digital assets pegged to the dollar. In this context, a recent study published by economists from the US Federal Reserve examines the role of... stablecoins and its potential to improve the movement of capital between different countries.

The report Payment Stablecoins and Cross Border Payments: Benefits and Implications for Monetary Policy Implementation, prepared by specialists Kyungmin Kim, Romina Ruprecht y Mary-Frances StyczynskiThe document suggests that stablecoins could offer an efficient alternative to the traditional banking model, bringing greater speed and transparency to global transactions. While the document reflects the authors' viewpoint and not an official position of the Federal Reserve, its dissemination through Federal Reserve channels makes it clear that interest in stablecoins continues to grow at the heart of the U.S. financial system.

The publication of this research report comes at a key regulatory time. In 2025, the United States approved the GENIUS ActA legal framework requiring stablecoins to be fully backed by liquid assets and precisely defining who can issue these digital assets. With this measure, the country marked a milestone in understanding and regulating digital money within its financial market.

Optimizing wholesale payments through blockchain networks and stablecoins

One of the key points of the analysis published by the Fed focuses on the need to make international payments more efficient. In the traditional system, sending money abroad still involves going through a complex network of intermediary banks. According to the aforementioned reportMore than half of global transactions are settled in dollars, and nearly 60% of wholesale payments rely on at least one correspondent bank. This model increases operating costs and puts smaller institutions at a disadvantage, ultimately making transfers more expensive and slower for end users.

In contrast, the use of stable digital assets, such as stablecoinsThis proposes a more direct and efficient alternative. According to the researchers, a bank could convert part of its reserves into this type of digital asset and send them de instant form to the recipient, without depending on an extensive interbank process. In this new scheme, large correspondent banks would no longer be a mandatory step and would instead act as liquidity providers within the system.

While widespread adoption is still not possible, the growing presence of stablecoins already marks a technological milestone that is driving innovation within the financial sector. Their advancement is motivating traditional institutions to modernize their processes and seek solutions that reduce the high costs, lack of transparency, and repetitive verifications that, until now, have limited the fluidity of global trade.

Digital reserves challenge the traditional structure of global money

The integration of stablecoins into the global financial system is opening a new chapter in how central banks manage their reserves. The recent study, based on the guidelines of the GENIUS ActThis study analyzes different scenarios to understand how asset demand would change if financial institutions replaced bank reserves with digital versions. The key to this process lies in the type of backing each issuer chooses, as their decision can directly influence liquid asset markets and the way monetary policy is implemented.

According to the scenarios analyzed, when stablecoins are backed by bank deposits, receiving institutions could increase their reserves at the Federal Reserve, thus contributing to the system's stability. However, if the backing is based on Treasury bills, the growing demand for these instruments could alter their yields and push investors toward other financial products.

Furthermore, when the backing consists of direct reserves within the central bank itself, the effect on the balance sheet would be virtually neutral. According to the researchers, these models suggest that foreign exchange management and correspondent banking relationships are undergoing a technological transformation, driven by the speed and efficiency of digital capital. In this new phase, they point out, the boundary between national and international markets is becoming more blurred, as digital money redefines how value circulates globally.

Historically, foreign exchange management abroad has depended on the availability of physical dollars or bank loans. However, the digitization through stablecoins It allows value to circulate with the same agility as information on the internet. The ability to program money through decentralized protocols allows financial institutions to adjust their liquidity levels in real time, responding more precisely to fluctuations in international supply and demand.

The integration of Web3 infrastructure in global banking

The report concludes that the adoption of stablecoins for wholesale settlement processes could not only modernize payments but also lay the foundation for a more integrated digital economy. The ability of these digital assets to interact with different decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols has opened new opportunities for institutional treasury management, enabling interoperability that was previously technologically impossible.

The researchers emphasize that the reduction of operational frictions is the greatest achievement of this technological evolution. Although the conversion between traditional money and digital assets remains a point of focus for regulators, blockchain infrastructure has proven resilient and efficient under high-demand conditions. They conclude that ongoing oversight and adaptation of existing regulations will ensure that innovation does not compromise stability, but rather strengthens it through more transparent systems that are less dependent on centralized intermediaries.

In short, the advancement of stablecoins represents a technical milestone in the history of money. The combination of clear regulation and cutting-edge technology is enabling the global financial system to evolve toward a more agile model. With all this, it is increasingly evident that stablecoins have ceased to be an experimental alternative and have become a strategic tool that guarantees the fluidity of capital in the 21st century.