ANALYSIS / Fintech expert urges NTD stablecoin to protect monetary sovereignty

Taipei, Dec. 14 (CNA) A fintech expert in Taiwan has called for the issuance of a New Taiwan dollar (NTD) stablecoin, saying it is vital for safeguarding Taiwan's monetary sovereignty and reinforcing the country's industrial competitiveness.

Driven by strong policy momentum in the United States, 2025 has been widely seen as the "first year of stablecoins" -- cryptocurrencies designed to maintain a stable value, typically pegged 1:1 to a fiat currency, and widely used as settlement currencies for digital assets and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs).

As U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins such as USDT and USDC currently account for about 99 percent of the global market, Jeff Wen (溫宏駿), a board member of the Taiwan FinTech Association, warned that Taiwan risks being sidelined in the emerging digital-finance infrastructure if it does not act soon.

Wen said in an interview with CNA on Friday that the issue goes beyond payment convenience and instead centers on competition over monetary sovereignty and control of financial ledgers.

An NTD stablecoin could serve as a medium of exchange and unit of account for RWA transactions, allowing on-chain financial products to be priced in New Taiwan dollars, Wen said. Without it, Taiwan's financial products may struggle to circulate globally, he added.

As countries develop a new accounting system alongside the traditional banking ledger, Japan and South Korea are actively positioning their own currency-backed stablecoins, Wen said, warning that Taiwan could miss a strategic opportunity if it procrastinates.

According to the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, nearly 5 percent of domestic firms and more than 10 percent of Taiwanese companies operating overseas are already experimenting with stablecoins for cross-border payments.

Wen said export-oriented technology firms may already be receiving U.S. dollar stablecoins, and without an NTD stablecoin, converting those funds into the local currency could reduce efficiency and erode competitiveness.

Taiwan could leverage its semiconductor strength to issue specialized U.S. dollar stablecoins to lower transaction costs globally, while also using Taiwan dollar stablecoins for payments within the domestic semiconductor and AI supply chains, he suggested.

Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Peng Jin-lung (彭金隆) said earlier this month that if virtual-asset legislation and related regulations are adopted soon, a Taiwan-issued stablecoin could debut as early as the second half of next year.

Some critics have argued, however, that there is little need for an NTD stablecoin, given that Taiwan has highly efficient domestic payment systems.

In response, Peng said that the growing use of RWAs and potential domestic applications highlights the merits of a local-currency stablecoin.