Central banks have traditionally held a monopoly on the issuance of money. But new forms of private money are challenging that dominance, with crypto assets and ‘stablecoins’ starting to pose important implications for policy.

The contemporary monetary system is equipped with central bank-issued money, such as cash and reserve balances, as well as private sector-issued money like bank deposits. They are all denominated in the same unit of account set by the government. Central bank-issued money