In this issue, you will find Laurent Quignon's editorial, the update of our “EcoNews” and “Markets Overview” sections.
Modernity sometimes conceals, under new guises, a return to old precepts: a currency backed 100% by the safest assets, bank deposits guaranteed by tangible reserves, the search for unfailing financial stability. Stablecoins (digital tokens backed by highly safe and liquid assets) are part of this logic. However, in our modern economies, banks only keep a small fraction of deposits in reserve with the Central Bank: this is the principle of "fractional reserves" which gives them the ability to create money (the remaining deposits can be allocated to credit). Beyond the intellectual interest that they attract, stablecoins raise a broader question: if their use were to become widespread, would they not risk making it more difficult to finance the economy?
The latest economic news.
Equity indices, Currencies & commodities, and Bond markets.
