Analysis & Opinions
- forkast
The Russo-Ukrainian war has bred an opportunity for stablecoins to be used as a store of illicit value as well as a store of legitimate value for people interested in maintaining savings through crisis. A recent Chainalysis report highlights this trend, finding that the share of stablecoins’ transaction volume on primarily Russian services grew from 42% in January to 67% in March last year after the invasion and has continued to increase since. However, taking into account illicit uses of stablecoins and blockchain-based currencies, we also note the demand for robust financial systems that can operate during times of geopolitical stress, sanctions and high throughput. These issues have also incentivized governments to speed up their exploration of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) that can increase efficiency, decrease transaction costs and speed up settlement times. But the continued and future operation of CBDC and stablecoin networks — which will be integral to the financial system of tomorrow — will require the expansion of resilient and secure cloud-based infrastructures, no matter whether the architecture is centralized or based on a distributed ledger template.