Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock'n'Roll Stablecoins and the singleness of money with Rhys Bidder
In this episode of BFRR – Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll, we welcome a very special guest: Rhys Bidder, Deputy Director of the Qatar Centre for Global Banking and Finance and lecturer at King’s Business School and the University of Cambridge. With a background at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and years of research at the intersection of monetary policy and digital assets, Rhys brings rare insight into one of the most pressing debates of modern finance: the role of stablecoins.
Our conversation traces Rhys’s journey from monetary theory and stress testing banks after the global financial crisis to becoming a leading voice on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), stablecoins, and blockchain infrastructure. He explains how stablecoins resemble “narrow banks,” why their settlement models differ radically from traditional banking systems, and why those differences matter for efficiency and global payments.
We dive deep into the risks and opportunities:
What counterparty risk and potential “run risks” mean in a stablecoin world.
How deviations from the “singleness of money” raise fundamental questions for monetary stability.
Why onboarding and offboarding between crypto and fiat is the hidden battleground for adoption.
How stablecoins could both support and complicate monetary policy transmission.
And whether regulators should explore central bank liquidity backstops for properly collateralized issuers.
Rhys also challenges central banks’ often dismissive stance toward stablecoins, arguing that regulators should focus not only on risks but also on constructive frameworks that make them safer. From global lender-of-last-resort questions to the politics of dollarization, this conversation brings monetary economics back to first principles: what is money, how should it work, and who should control it?
If you want to understand how stablecoins could reshape the financial system—and what role they should play alongside banks, CBDCs, and tokenized deposits—this is a must-listen.
LinkedIn Rhys Google Scholar Rhys Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock'n'Roll Website
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