Canada is moving closer to putting rules around stablecoins, and the Bank of Canada wants the guardrails tight.
Governor Tiff Macklem said Tuesday that any future Canadian stablecoins should look and behave like reliable money, not a speculative token with a promise attached.
Macklem’s message was simple. If stablecoins are going to circulate as a payment tool, they must hold their value at par, and they must remain redeemable when it matters most. “We want stablecoins to be good money, like bank notes or money on deposit at banks,” he said.
To get there, he set out two core conditions. “A stablecoin must be pegged at a one-to-one ratio to a central bank currency and be backed by high-quality liquid assets so that it can always be converted to cash at par,” he told the Montreal Chamber of Commerce said.
In practice, that means reserve assets that can be sold quickly without taking big losses, typically government-backed instruments such as treasury bills and government bonds.
Bank Of Canada Calls For Clear, Fee-Free Stablecoin Exit Paths
Macklem also pushed for clarity on the user experience, not just the balance sheet. He said issuers should fully disclose the conditions for redeeming stablecoins, including the timing and any fees, so consumers and businesses know exactly what they are buying into before they rely on the token for payments.
The remarks land after the Liberal government said in November that it would introduce stablecoin regulations next year.
Ottawa wants to modernize Canada’s financial system, and it has pointed to stablecoins as one piece of a broader push to keep pace with other economies, including the United States, that are already building rules for fiat-pegged digital tokens.
Canada’s urgency also reflects a wider shift. Stablecoins have pushed further into mainstream finance after the GENIUS Act in the United States created a clearer framework for dollar-backed stablecoins, a move that supporters say could accelerate adoption.
Stablecoins Get Rules, Not Endorsements, From Canada’s Central Bank
As more dollar stablecoins circulate globally, policymakers in other countries have started to worry about monetary sovereignty and what happens if local users default to foreign digital dollars for everyday transactions.
That is why Macklem framed his stance as pragmatic rather than promotional. “It’s not really up to the Bank of Canada to encourage stablecoins or discourage stablecoins. What is up to the Bank of Canada is to ensure that if Canadians, Canadian businesses want to use stablecoins, they are, in fact, stable,” he said in a news conference after his speech.
Stablecoin Oversight Tied To Canada’s Payments Modernization Push
The finance ministry has argued that a proper framework would build trust so fiat-backed stablecoins are safe and secure for consumers and businesses to use, and it has said the central bank will act as the regulator.
Macklem tied the stablecoin conversation to a larger upgrade cycle in Canadian payments. He said 2026 should bring more innovation as the country modernises infrastructure, including the Real-Time Rail system designed to enable instant settlement for consumers and businesses, including cross-border use cases.
He also pointed to open banking as another pillar, saying the Bank of Canada intends to work on implementation that would make it easier for customers to compare services and switch banks.
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