🔔 The total market capitalization of stablecoins has reached a record high of $322 billion, exceeding the foreign exchange reserves of 95 countries. According to CoinDesk data on May 26, the global market capitalization of stablecoins has surpassed $322 billion, setting a new all-time high. This scale now exceeds the official foreign exchange reserves of emerging economies such as Poland, Thailand, and Mexico, as well as developed economies like the UK, Canada, and the UAE. Currently, only 14 economies—including China, Japan, Russia, India, Taiwan, and Germany—hold foreign exchange reserves larger than the total market capitalization of stablecoins. Stablecoins have become the core pricing and settlement medium for cryptocurrency trading, enabling users to hedge against crypto volatility without frequently converting to fiat currency. In decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, stablecoins serve as the foundational settlement layer; in cross-border payments, their low cost and high efficiency offer an alternative to traditional banking channels that are either inaccessible or prohibitively expensive. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) recently reported that since 2022, cross-border flows of stablecoins have grown significantly, particularly in regions experiencing high inflation and volatile exchange rates. However, increased capital flow efficiency also brings potential risks. Stablecoin transactions may intensify capital outflow pressures, making emerging markets with existing current account deficits more vulnerable to currency depreciation. BIS research further indicates a significant correlation between rising stablecoin flows and subsequent currency depreciation, deviations from interest rate parity, and widening spreads between implied stablecoin exchange rates and official exchange rates in segmented markets. These trends suggest that stablecoins may provide a technological channel to circumvent capital controls, allowing residents of emerging and developing economies (EMDEs) to convert savings into dollar-denominated assets with low friction—thereby challenging the effectiveness of sovereign monetary policy. https://t.co/Giku2kXQBt