Equivalent to Equivalence: models of international openness and reciprocity for stablecoins

Stablecoin regulation is national while stablecoin activity is cross-border. There are currently few mechanisms to support cross-border regulation and supervision. The resulting debate is often framed as a search for ‘equivalence,’ but equivalence is only one model of international openness. This brief distinguishes between unilateral and mutually agreed approaches, and between framework-level and firm-specific decisions. It argues that formal jurisdiction-wide equivalence is a poor default for stablecoins. It is slow, politically charged and often too broad for a market dominated by a few global issuers. A more realistic near-term route is firm-specific conditional access supported by international supervisory colleges, shared reserve monitoring, information sharing and clear crisis protocols.