{"id":6661,"date":"2021-10-21T09:41:41","date_gmt":"2021-10-21T09:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmoneyreview.com\/?p=6661"},"modified":"2021-11-04T12:47:43","modified_gmt":"2021-11-04T12:47:43","slug":"a-400-year-old-stablecoin-and-why-it-failed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newmoneyreview.com\/index.php\/2021\/10\/21\/a-400-year-old-stablecoin-and-why-it-failed\/","title":{"rendered":"A 400-year-old stablecoin (and why it failed)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stablecoins\u2014digital currencies pegged to existing money, like the dollar, euro, pound or gold\u2014are the hottest topic in finance.<\/p>\n

From crypto-market dollars like Tether and Circle to Facebook\u2019s Diem project and tomorrow\u2019s central bank digital currencies (CBDC), many stablecoins are staking a claim to be the payments medium of the future.<\/p>\n

But stablecoins are not a new idea, says Peter Wierts, a senior economist at the Dutch central bank, an associate professor at the Free University and our guest on the latest New Money Review<\/em> podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Peter Wierts<\/em><\/p>\n

In fact, their design closely resembles the money issued by the 17th<\/sup>\/18th<\/sup> century Bank of Amsterdam, says Wierts, who authored a paper<\/a> on the topic last year with economists from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).<\/p>\n

Bank of Amsterdam money was the dominant global currency of its time, admired by Adam Smith<\/a> and Voltaire<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But eventually it went wrong\u2014and in a way that carries lessons for today\u2019s stablecoin operators, says Wierts.<\/p>\n

Listen to the podcast<\/a> to hear Wierts and New Money Review<\/em> editor Paul Amery discuss:<\/p>\n