The International Monetary Fund has warned that stablecoins resemble money market funds more than actual money and could face confidence-driven runs as tokenized finance scales.
Tokenization “constitutes a structural reallocation of trust within the financial system,” Tobias Adrian, financial counsellor and director of the monetary and capital markets unit of the IMF, wrote in the report.
Traditional financial systems rely on delays like end-of-day settlement and batch processing that give regulators time to intervene before problems spread, Adrian explained. Tokenization eliminates those delays by making settlement continuous and automated, meaning liquidity crises could materialize instantly.
This creates what the report calls a mismatch between tokenized systems operating across borders at machine speed and crisis management frameworks built around national jurisdictions.
IMF: Private Cryptocurrencies Are ‘Inadvisable Shortcut’ to Financial Inclusion
Key levers of control in tokenized finance may lie in code and governance keys rather than in institutions regulators can reach, the IMF argued.
Adrian outlined a five-pillar policy roadmap calling on governments to anchor tokenized settlement in safe assets like wholesale central bank digital currencies, apply consistent regulation across similar activities, and adapt central bank liquidity tools to operate automated environments.
The note also argued that legal mandates for financial stability “must ultimately prevail over automated execution,” recommending mandatory audits and override mechanisms for systemically important smart contracts that would allow pauses under emergency conditions.
The note is the latest in a series of escalating warnings from the IMF on digital assets, going as far back as calling private cryptocurrencies an “inadvisable shortcut” to financial inclusion, a joint roadmap with the Financial Stability Board to address risks crypto poses to financial stability, and most recently in late 2025, warning that stablecoin adoption could stifle central bank control.
Stablecoin Adoption Could Stifle Central Bank Control, IMF Warns
Observers in conversation with Decrypt said the report’s assessment carries weight, though gaps remain.
“By treating the current system as an implicit safe baseline and highlighting only tokenization’s incremental risks, the report can leave policymakers with the impression that the status quo is safe,” Siwon Huh, a researcher at crypto research firm Four Pillars, told Decrypt.