Professor publishes article on stablecoins regulation

Professor Ryan Clements has published "Defining the Regulatory Perimeter for Stablecoins in Canada" in the Canadian Business Law Journal. The article is the first scholarly work to provide a detailed assessment of the jurisdictional perimeter, and risk-informed regulatory design principles, for fiat-backed stablecoins in Canada. It provides two unique and vital contributions to policy formation in stablecoin regulation. First, it analyzes whether stablecoins are securities, investment funds, or derivatives based on statutory definitions and interpretive jurisprudence. Second, it assesses whether a securities-based regulatory framework is sufficient to mitigate the risks that stablecoins pose, or if it leaves gaps that must be filled by banking, payments, and systemic risk regulators. 

According to the article, if Canadian securities regulators move forward with a stablecoin policy framework, they must do so with an eye to resulting gaps. A comprehensive framework will require inter-agency cooperation, across the financial regulatory landscape, to adequately address all stablecoin risks. It must apply “same risk, same regulation” principles, contextualized to support innovation, financial inclusion, and competition, using tiered parameters, and parallel and complementary inter-agency oversight. Additionally, it must seek international regulatory cooperation, data-sharing, and contemplate contagion, interconnection, and the consequences of the potential failure of a global stablecoin issuer.

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