On September 7, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) announced a significant emergency management project titled "Research on Global Stablecoin Risk Governance and Cross-Border Collaborative Supervision System." This move not only signifies the highest level of attention from China's premier scientific research institution towards stablecoins as an emerging digital asset but also represents a crucial step for China in seeking to establish its own risk governance and strategic response system amid profound changes in the global financial landscape and intensifying financial competition among major powers. With their efficient cross-border liquidity, stablecoins have become a core bridge connecting traditional finance and the crypto ecosystem, posing profound challenges to the existing international monetary system and global financial regulatory framework. The NSFC's project aims to break through the current "fourfold disconnection" dilemma faced in the stablecoin field, contributing a theoretical framework and policy options that combine Chinese wisdom with a global perspective to help China respond to challenges and participate in global digital financial governance.
I. Emergency Management Project: Rapid Response to Major National Strategic Needs
The emergency management project established by the National Natural Science Foundation aims to quickly respond to significant management issues arising in economic, technological, and social development, providing timely scientific analysis and policy recommendations for high-level decision-making by the Party and government. This project primarily funds research on important and critical issues that urgently need to be addressed in national macro management and development strategies, as well as "hot" and "difficult" issues in economic, technological, and social development practices, based on existing relevant scientific research. Each year, 3-5 phases are launched, funding research in several directions.
The inclusion of "Research on Global Stablecoin Risk Governance and Cross-Border Collaborative Supervision System" as an emergency management project fully reflects the urgency and importance of stablecoin issues at the national strategic level. This indicates that China's leadership has recognized the potential impact of stablecoins on national monetary sovereignty, financial stability, and macroeconomic operation, and there is an urgent need for scientific and systematic research results to support decision-making.
II. Stablecoin Challenges: The Frontier of Major Power Financial Competition and China's Dual Strategic Pressure
The rise of stablecoins is not without challenges, as their inherent vulnerabilities, impact on the international monetary system, and the nature of major power financial competition become increasingly prominent.
Inherent Vulnerabilities and Systemic Risks: The "stability" of stablecoins is not absolute, and a series of risk events have exposed deep flaws in their stability mechanisms and potential systemic risks. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have also fundamentally questioned whether they possess the core characteristics of modern currency and their legal attributes.
Frontline of Major Power Financial Competition: Stablecoins have evolved into a frontline in the financial competition among major powers. The United States has signed the "Guidance and Establishment of the U.S. Stablecoin National Innovation Act" (GENIUS Act), aiming to establish a federal-level regulatory framework for payment stablecoins; the European Union's "Regulation on Markets in Crypto-Assets" (MiCA) has gradually come into effect; and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's "Regulations on the Supervision of Stablecoin Issuers" have also been officially implemented. Major global economies are accelerating the construction of stablecoin regulatory frameworks to seize the high ground in the formulation of digital financial rules.
China's Dual Strategic Pressure: Against this backdrop, China faces dual strategic pressures: the potential weakening of capital control effectiveness due to the covert circulation of private stablecoins, and the potential challenge to the internationalization of the renminbi posed by the global expansion of dollar stablecoins. Effectively addressing these challenges and maintaining national financial security and monetary sovereignty has become a major strategic issue that China urgently needs to resolve.
These complex situations highlight the current "fourfold disconnection" faced globally in addressing stablecoin challenges: theoretical disconnection, regulatory disconnection, data disconnection, and policy disconnection. The root cause lies in the lack of quantitative analytical tools for accurately predicting impact pathways and the absence of effective collaborative governance mechanisms to prevent cross-border risk transmission. The NSFC's project aims to break through these dilemmas through rigorous scientific research, contributing a theoretical framework and policy options that combine Chinese wisdom with a global perspective to help China respond to global stablecoin challenges and participate in global digital financial governance.
III. Research Framework and Key Content: Systematic Response to Stablecoin Challenges
The overall topic of this emergency management project is "Research on the Evolution Trends, Risk Transmission of Global Stablecoins, and China's Risk Governance and Strategic Response," intending to construct a research framework that integrates "situation assessment, mechanism analysis, risk assessment, and strategy construction." The key research content covers all aspects of stablecoins:
Research on the Evolution Trends, Risk Transmission of Global Stablecoins, and China's Risk Governance and Strategic Response
Systematically assess the latest trends in global stablecoin development, technological evolution, and market structure characteristics, evaluating their structural impact on the international monetary system.
Analyze the potential risk transmission mechanisms of stablecoins on China's monetary sovereignty, financial stability, and macroeconomic operation, and conduct quantitative assessments.
Explore the theoretical foundations for constructing a Chinese stablecoin governance framework that balances security and efficiency, openness and sovereignty, based on the essence of payment tools and their functional positioning in serving the real economy, assessing the prerequisites, feasibility, and potential impacts of different policy paths.
Research China's strategic positioning and participation pathways in the global stablecoin governance system, providing theoretical support for enhancing China's voice in the formulation of international digital financial rules.
Research on the Structural Evolution of Global Stablecoins and Their Impact on the International Monetary System
Focus on the "digital dollarization" trend that may be triggered by the dollar-dominated private stablecoin system and its impact on the monetary sovereignty of emerging economies, aiming to provide theoretical basis for exploring the construction of a more equitable and inclusive new international monetary order.
Research on the Inherent Vulnerabilities, Risk Transmission, and Macro-Prudential Management of Stablecoins
Analyze the run risks of private stablecoins and the new types of risks that may arise from their integration with real asset tokens (RWA tokens), exploring effective pathways to incorporate them into China's macro-prudential management framework.
Research on the Impact of Stablecoins on Monetary Sovereignty and the Effectiveness of Monetary Policy
Systematically analyze the impact of the cross-border expansion of stablecoins on the boundaries of traditional monetary sovereignty and the effectiveness of monetary policy, providing theoretical support for maintaining national financial sovereignty and optimizing the monetary policy framework.
Research on the Impact, Transmission, and Response Strategies of Digital Currency on China's Financial Intermediation System
Evaluate the impact of emerging digital currencies on the business models of traditional financial institutions, exploring the coexistence model of central bank digital currency and compliant private stablecoins, particularly studying the feasibility, applicable scenarios, and core regulatory prerequisites of public-private partnership (PPP) models.
Research on Global Stablecoin Regulatory Frameworks, Financial Infrastructure, and Cross-Border Collaboration
Systematically compare and analyze global mainstream regulatory models, exploring innovative pathways to enhance the effectiveness of cross-border collaborative supervision, focusing on financial infrastructure risks, strengthening KYC, AML, and CFT compliance capabilities, and exploring the design of innovative multinational regulatory cooperation mechanisms to address challenges such as jurisdictional conflicts.
IV. Application Requirements and Funding Mechanism: Encouraging Team Collaboration and Policy Orientation
This emergency management project encourages and prioritizes funding for team applications as a whole, requiring applicants to submit a comprehensive application for the project, including one overall topic and five sub-topics, along with separate applications for the overall project and each sub-topic. The direct funding for each sub-topic does not exceed 200,000 yuan, and the direct funding for the overall topic does not exceed 300,000 yuan. The project research period is 10-12 months, and the research results will ultimately be presented in the form of policy recommendation reports, media reports, research reports, monographs, and academic papers, with the policy report being a key focus for mid-term review and final acceptance.
This funding mechanism aims to gather top research talents in China, forming a collaborative force to quickly produce high-quality, actionable policy recommendations, providing strong support for national decision-making.
Conclusion:
The announcement of stablecoin-related research topics by the National Natural Science Foundation of China marks an important step for China in the digital finance field. This is not only a proactive response to the challenges posed by stablecoins but also a strategic deployment for China to enhance its voice in global digital financial governance and contribute Chinese wisdom. Through systematic research, China is expected to form unique theoretical frameworks and policy options in areas such as stablecoin risk governance, cross-border collaborative supervision, and macro-prudential management, contributing to maintaining national financial security, promoting the internationalization of the renminbi, and constructing a more equitable and inclusive new international monetary order. The global financial transformation triggered by stablecoins is changing the future of global finance at an unprecedented speed and depth, and China is actively participating with its unique wisdom and strategy.
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Original: “China's National Natural Science Foundation Launches Research on Stablecoins, What Does It Mean?”
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