"Individual countries should create stablecoins based on their national currencies... a way to protect monetary sovereignty"

A claim has emerged that stablecoins (virtual assets whose value is pegged to fiat currencies) could have a significant impact on a country's competitiveness. The warning is that when the era of artificial intelligence (AI) arrives and stablecoins become widespread, if there is no stablecoin based on a country's own currency, people may begin to use foreign currencies in everyday life.

Michael Casey, senior advisor for digital assets at the MIT Media Lab, said at the 'Future Tech Forum: Digital Assets' held at the Gyeongju Arts Center on the 30th, "In the AI era, AI agents will begin to trade assets, and the money used in transactions will be stablecoins as 'programmable money,'" adding, "When the AI era arrives, stablecoins could become widely popular."

Casey explained, "AI agents will prefer a reserve currency that can remain safe even in 'human failure,' or stablecoins based on Bitcoin (BTC)," and said, "A preference issue for certain stablecoins could arise in the AI era."

He explained that AI agents may prefer a specific stablecoin for transactions, which could lead to 'currency substitution.' Currency substitution refers to a phenomenon in which major currencies such as the U.S. dollar, the yuan, or the yen penetrate another country's real economy beyond reserve currency and wholesale settlement levels. Casey warned, "There could come a situation where Koreans start using dollars to do their grocery shopping. This could fundamentally threaten monetary sovereignty," and stressed, "Each country must quickly adopt stablecoins based on its own currency."

He urged regulators to speed up. Casey said, "I know regulators have many concerns about stablecoins," and explained, "Although negative perceptions arose previously due to incidents like the Luna·Terra crisis and projects such as Libra, there are already stablecoins like USDC and Tether (USDT) whose reserves are transparently disclosed and audited." He added, "Interest in stablecoins has recently been growing. Japan, Singapore, the European Union (EU), and the United States are each introducing stablecoin legislation," and remarked, "I understand Korea is also discussing related regulations. It will be a way to protect democracy and monetary sovereignty."