Stablecoins
Course · Web3 · 4 min
What?01 / 08
A cryptoasset targeting €1
Its name promises stability. Its mechanism tries to produce it.
In four minutes: understand the peg, see what supports it and know what to check before holding one.
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What?02 / 08
A token that promises a price
A stablecoin is a cryptoasset that targets a stable value relative to a reference, often one dollar or one euro.
That target is the peg. It is not a guarantee: the market price can move away from it.
Returning to the target requires a credible issuance, redemption or collateral mechanism.
What?03 / 08
Three ways to keep the promise
Three mechanisms are enough to tell them apart:
Traditional assets — cash, deposits or liquid securities held in reserve
Crypto collateral — locked cryptoassets, usually in excess to absorb their volatility
Algorithmic mechanism — supply and incentives try to restore the target, sometimes without sufficient reserves
Why?04 / 08
Why everyone uses one
On-chain, it can serve as a unit of account, a means of exchange and a temporary shelter from other cryptoassets' volatility.
It can move around the clock, but speed, cost and finality depend on the network and service used.
When backed by money or other assets, it already connects traditional finance with programmable ledgers.
Why?05 / 08
Why to stay clear-eyed
The targeted stability depends on the mechanism, asset quality and the actual ability to redeem tokens.
Because a centralised issuer keeps its hand on the ledger: it can freeze an address, by order or on its own.
In the European Union, MiCA regulates the offer and admission to trading of many stable-value tokens through their issuer.
How?06 / 08
How to size up a stablecoin
Four checks are enough before trusting one:
Who issues it, and under what law — an identifiable company, or an anonymous address
What reserve or collateral supports it, and with what transparency — composition, custody and frequency of attestations
Its peg history — has it ever slipped, and for how long
Its regulatory status — authorised issuer in the EU, redemption rights and public register
How?07 / 08
The right habits
Four habits cover crossing stablecoins without getting burned:
Diversify issuers — never all your liquidity with one
Prefer the audited and regulated — a public report beats a promise
Check the contract address before sending — fake tokens borrow real names
Be wary of unexplained "interest" — a yield with no mechanism is only a promise
How?08 / 08
The gateway to RWAs
The stablecoin is the first step of tokenisation: a dollar, carried onto the chain as is.
After the dollar come the building and the receivable — other real assets, carried across the same way.
This course does not stop here: the collection explores those next steps, one by one.