Stablecoins are often discussed with regard to their “stability.” It is usually questioned whether a stablecoin is sufficiently backed with money or other assets. Undoubtedly, it is a very important aspect of stablecoin value. But, does it make sense if the legal terms of a stablecoin do not give you, the stablecoin holder, the legal right to redeem that digital record on blockchain for fiat currency?
This article aims to look into the legal terms of the two largest stablecoins — Tether (USDT) by Tether and USD Coin (USDC) by Centre Consortium, established by Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) and Circle — to answer the question: Do they owe you anything?
Oleksii Konashevych has a Ph.D. in law, science and technology and is the CEO of the Australian Institute for Digital Transformation. In his academic research, he presented a concept of a new generation of property registries that are based on a blockchain. He presented an idea of title tokens and supported it with technical protocols for smart laws and digital authorities to enable full-featured legal governance of digitized property rights. He has also developed a cross-chain protocol that enables the use of multiple ledgers for a blockchain estate registry, which he presented to the Australian Senate in 2021.