BIS: Bank rate hikes cut stablecoin growth by 3 points
Stablecoin market growth has slowed when U.S. banks raised deposit interest rates, with new research finding that a one-basis-point increase in deposit rates was associated with roughly three percentage points less stablecoin market capitalization growth over ten weeks. In an October 13 working paper titled Are Stablecoins and Bank Deposits Substitutes?, economists Rashad Ahmed and Iñaki Aldasoro examined weekly U.S. data from January 2019 to June 2025. Their findings suggest that consumers and investors respond to the returns offered by traditional bank accounts when deciding how much money to hold in stablecoins. The study found a stronger relationship for Circle‘s USDC than for Tether’s USDT. It identified similar behavior across bank certificates of deposit and stablecoins supplied to decentralized lending platforms. The researchers cautioned that their findings do not establish that stablecoin adoption has reduced total bank deposits or lending across the U.S. banking system. Higher bank deposit rates linked to slower stablecoin growth The working paper examines whether stablecoins compete with traditional bank deposits for funds, particularly when banks offer customers better interest rates. Both products can serve as relatively stable stores of value and support payments. Their financial returns differ because conventional bank deposits can pay interest, while major payment stablecoins generally do not









