The Financial Stability Board (FSB), the Basel-based group of national financial authorities and standard setters, published a note on Oct. 12 that found “global stablecoins and national regulatory frameworks remain untested in severe stress and insolvency.”
The note, submitted to G20 finance ministers and central bank governors at the request of the U.S. G20 presidency, does not set new rules. It summarizes the FSB’s ongoing work on cross-border risks and stablecoin data. The FSB put the stablecoin market at about $300 billion as of mid-2026, little changed over 12 months, and said 99% of it by value tracks the U.S. dollar.
“Global stablecoin arrangements are inherently cross-border, yet national regulations are taking shape at different speeds and cross-border cooperation in this area is still in its infancy,” FSB Chair Andrew Bailey, who is also governor of the Bank of England, wrote in a letter to the G20 that accompanied the note.
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Where Redemptions Could Land
Unlike a bank, which knows its depositors, a stablecoin issuer may have no view of who holds its tokens or which country redemption requests will come from, according to the note. Round-the-clock secondary trading could speed up a sell-off in a crisis, the FSB said, while reserves and holders’ legal protections may stay tied to particular jurisdictions. If a global stablecoin failed, it may not be clear which national insolvency regime would govern.
The note gave particular attention to multi-issuer stablecoins, where affiliated companies share liability for one token but each holds its own reserves. Because holders may be able to redeem with any affiliate, requests could converge on one of them, and shifting reserves across borders to meet that demand may hit frictions under stress. Where holders’ locations are hard to pin down, their legal claims may be unclear, the FSB said.
Bailey wrote that mechanisms for cross-border crisis management and cooperation in stress or insolvency “remain immature or are not yet developed.”
What the FSB Plans Next
The note listed three areas that “may warrant continued consideration”: closer monitoring of cross-border vulnerabilities, more cross-border cooperation and information-sharing under the FSB’s 2023 stablecoin recommendations, and, in its words, “gathering information on emerging approaches to planning for distress or failure.” It did not propose a crisis plan of its own, and FSB decisions are not legally binding.
On data, the FSB said authorities rely mostly on private compilers whose methods vary, and that pseudonymous blockchains often leave them unable to say what stablecoins are used for or where.
The FSB and the International Monetary Fund previously advised against blanket crypto bans in a 2023 report prepared for the G20.
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