South African Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago has warned that the rapid rise of stablecoins could pose risks to financial stability, particularly in the absence of comprehensive regulation.
Speaking at the 2026 Warwick Economics Summit on Saturday, Kganyago said central banks have a responsibility “to protect the oneness of money and the affordability of money to the public,” cautioning that stablecoins risk fragmenting the monetary system. “The truth of the matter is that these things could break apart,” he said, referring to the crypto assets.
Stablecoins — digital tokens typically backed by assets such as US Treasuries to maintain a fixed value against traditional currencies — have gained popularity in South Africa as a less volatile alternative within the cryptocurrency market. The central bank warned in November that regulatory gaps around these instruments have emerged as a new risk to the country’s financial sector.
Kganyago also pointed to heightened global uncertainty, saying it has reinforced the importance of the central bank’s financial models. “We have got a suite of models,” he said, adding that developments such as the imposition of US tariffs over the past year have made these tools “very, very important.”
At the same summit, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Feb. 5 that the ECB is considering opening repo lines to central banks outside Europe — a move Kganyago described as “a welcome development,” according to Reuters.
Kganyago added that South Africa’s interest-rate-cutting cycle is not yet complete, Reuters reported.
