Stablecoins and money market funds: Less similar than you think

Mihaela Păun

Stablecoin balance sheet structures closely resemble those of money market funds. This column finds that despite these similarities, their reactions to crypto and US monetary policy shocks are different. Following a crypto shock, the assets under management of money market funds barely bulge whereas the capitalisation of stablecoins drops significantly. After a monetary policy tightening, prime money market fund assets rise while stablecoin market capitalisation substantially declines. As