​​​​​​​Stablecoins’ would-be lawgivers don’t know what they’re missing

In the years leading up to the American Civil War, US state banks would issue paper notes in varying colours and sizes that were not fully fungible. The system depended on “paper money men” to circulate the notes at discretionary – and sometimes suspect – discounts. Widespread swindling ensued and was documented in an 1815 satire that mocked Congress for permitting such practices “without censure or punishment”.

At an event on April 8 organised by Georgetown University in Washington, Mike Hsu –