What is a stablecoin?
A stablecoin is a digital token designed to hold a stable value, almost always one U.S. dollar. Unlike volatile crypto assets, a well-run stablecoin trades at or near $1.00 at all times, making it usable as a unit of account, a means of payment, and a store of short-term value.
The result is a dollar that moves like an email: instantly, globally, and 24/7, without a correspondent bank in the middle.
How do they hold the peg?
The dominant model is reserve-backed. For every token in circulation, the issuer holds one dollar of high-quality liquid assets, cash and short-dated Treasuries, and lets holders redeem at par. Arbitrage does the rest: if the token drifts below a dollar, traders buy it cheap and redeem for $1, pushing the price back up.
The credibility of a stablecoin is only as strong as the quality, transparency, and liquidity of its reserves.
The regulatory landscape
Regulation has shifted stablecoins from gray-area instruments to supervised financial products:
- United States, GENIUS Act: a federal framework setting reserve, redemption, and disclosure standards for payment stablecoins.
- European Union, MiCA: licensing and reserve rules for e-money tokens and asset-referenced tokens.
- Asia & Middle East: Singapore, Hong Kong, and the UAE have issued or proposed dedicated stablecoin regimes.
Why CFOs should care
Stablecoins compress the cost and time of moving money. Cross-border payouts settle in seconds instead of days, weekend float disappears, and FX spreads narrow. With adjusted transfer volume now measured in the trillions, this is settlement infrastructure, not speculation.
Explore the live market on the Artemis dashboard, see our data overview, or browse the full list of stablecoins by market cap.
Next: read our explainer on PYUSD (PayPal USD), learn how teams spend stablecoins with cards, or run business accounts.