Payments, crypto & dollars | Yam-ki Chan, Circle | VOX 86

Yam-ki Chan runs the Asia Pacific business at Circle, the stablecoin operator. He speaks with DigFin‘s Jame DiBiasio about the ongoing questions about licensing and regulation, notably in Singapore as well as in other jurisdictions.

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023 put a spotlight on how stablecoins manage their reserves, and Chan talks about risk management and how central banks are approaching this issue.

Finally he speaks about the future business model of stablecoin operators, as they confront new competitors, and the impact that stablecoins are having on both the US dollar as well as disruptive cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

• Timecodes:
• 0:00 – Yam-ki Chan, Circle
• 1:28 – Licensing stablecoin operators, Singapore’s catalytic role, and how regulators want to support better ways to move money across borders
• 7:18 – Issuing local currencies versus USD-backed stablecoins
• 9:38 – The risks of regulation fragmenting the Circle global model
• 11:12 – Custodians and issues around holding reserve assets
• 13:30 – Impact of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse on stablecoin regulation
• 15:56 – Commercial banking relationships
• 16:48 – Should stablecoin operators be regulated just like banks?
• 21:30 – The viability of the pure stablecoin-operating business model
• 26:04 – Versus rivals with merchant networks
• 28:56 – Stablecoins, bitcoin, and the dollar