Moody's publishes stablecoin evaluation criteria…"Grades differentiated by quality of reserve assets"

Global credit rating agency Moody's has released new evaluation criteria to assess the credit and market risks of stablecoins. It is an attempt to extend traditional finance's evaluation standards into the virtual asset (cryptocurrency) domain, and observers say it may significantly affect future stablecoin market flows and institutional investment strategies.

Moody's announced on the 12th (local time) the stablecoin evaluation criteria and said it will collect public comments on them until January 26 next year. The criteria focus on comprehensively assessing stablecoins' reserve asset composition, liquidity, and transparency to distinguish and measure credit risk and market risk.

The most notable feature of this evaluation framework is that it applies differentiated assessments to stablecoins based on the quality of their underlying reserve assets. Stablecoins backed by high-quality liquid assets such as government bonds can receive relatively high ratings, whereas those with a large proportion of higher-risk assets may see lower grades. This can be interpreted as classifying and comparing stablecoins using standards effectively similar to traditional financial products.

Market observers say this move could make institutional investors' criteria for selecting stablecoins more stringent. Depending on the evaluation results, liquidity could concentrate in certain stablecoins, and competition over the quality of reserve assets and the level of disclosure could intensify. Analysts note this aligns with global regulators' emphasis on reserve transparency and asset soundness.

However, there has been no official response yet from major issuers or financial institutions. The actual direction Moody's evaluation criteria will take is expected to become clear only after the public comment period results and the first official ratings are announced.

Moody's said, "This is an attempt to present a reference point for stablecoin evaluation and to link it more precisely with traditional financial products," adding, "It will help market participants more clearly recognize risks."