A 19th century bank failure holds lessons for stablecoin era – BIS paper

Bank of Amsterdam’s early “stablecoin” fell apart as the bank lent more freely, authors say

The Bank for International Settlements, Basel
The Bank for International Settlements, Basel
Photo: Ulrich Roth

The fate of the Bank of Amsterdam holds important lessons for the role of modern central banks in the stablecoin era, research published by the Bank for International Settlements argues.

The working paper, by Jon Frost, Hyun Song Shin and Peter Wierts, explores the rise and fall of “proto-central bank” Bank of Amsterdam, which operated from 1609 to 1820.

Early in its history, the bank acted in much the same way as modern stablecoins are designed to function. Its assets were solely in the form

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