Marianne Bechara

The January 2026 publication of the GDF Global Stablecoin Regulatory Playbook marked a pivotal moment in the evolution of digital asset oversight. For the first time, a comprehensive, principles-based framework has been developed, by and for stablecoin issuers, to establish shared terminology, foundational concepts, and outcome-oriented principles for stablecoin regulation across jurisdictions.

Yet the core challenge identified by the Playbook remains urgent: despite growing convergence on broad objectives, significant divergence persists in legal classification, terminology, reserve requirements, and redemption standards across the US (GENIUS Act), EU (MiCA), UK, Singapore, UAE, and beyond.

This fragmentation creates compliance burdens for global issuers, undermines cross-border scalability, and risks undercutting the very benefits - frictionless payments, financial inclusion, monetary efficiency - that stablecoins are positioned to deliver.

This roundtable convenes regulators, policymakers, and senior industry participants to analyse the GDF Playbook's findings, stress-test its recommendations against real regulatory experience, and identify actionable pathways toward greater international alignment.

Why Now?

Stablecoins have moved decisively from experiment to infrastructure. The GENIUS Act has established a federal US framework; MiCA has come into force across the EU; Singapore, Hong Kong, the UAE, and the UK have each enacted or are finalising their regimes. The window for shaping global interoperability, before these frameworks calcify into divergent silos, is narrow.

The GDF Playbook provides a neutral, issuer-grounded reference point from which regulators, policymakers, and industry can build shared understanding. This roundtable is designed to translate that reference point into regulatory action - identifying where equivalence determinations are ripe, where supervisory cooperation agreements should be deepened, and where international standard-setters should focus their attention.