Samson Mow: “Stablecoins Will Not See A Retail Use Case”

The chief strategy officer (CSO) at Blockstream, Samson Mow, is in the crypto news today for stating that stablecoins like Tether (USDT) are on a good way but will not see a retail use case. The CSO was speaking at the BlockShow conference on November 15 and noted that Tether has a first-mover advantage placing it in another league from the increasing number of other stablecoins on the market.

Samson Mow made the comments during a panel which was dubbed “The progress of stablecoins — if any? Can I use it yet?” which also featured representatives of several stablecoin companies along with Chia Hock Lai who is the president of the Singapore FinTech Association.

“Tether is controversial because it’s the king of stablecoins,” Mow summarized while wearing a Tether T-shirt. “So it’s no surprise that everyone is trying to come at the king.”

Continuing his statement, Samson Mow was featured in the Tether cryptocurrency news for noting that the public struggles that USDT’s issuer is facing – including a United States lawsuit:

“Daily trading volume is $20 billion per day — 100 times larger than the next biggest stablecoin. So we see stupid things like theories about one whale manipulating Bitcoin price — billion-dollar lawsuits etc.”

Nonetheless, Tether is unlikely to find a home among every consumer as its utility lies elsewhere – Samson Mow added.

“I don’t think stablecoins will be adopted in retail use cases. They’re used mainly for traders to take advantage of arbitrage opportunities.”

The panel in which Samson Mow was a guest also covered the impact of national digital currencies which are issued by central banks on stablecoins – as well as Facebook Libra. Going forward, he also stressed that there is no threat from Bitcoin (BTC) but national cryptocurrencies such as one China is planning could definitely disrupt the use case of stablecoins.

“Stablecoins are a mid-step toward hyperbitcoinization. They’re a temporary thing. The main threat they face is from the national cryptocurrencies. How open will those national cryptocurrencies be? …But stablecoins will then have no reason to exist with a national cryptocurrency,” Samson Mow concluded.

Mow foresees more USDT (and other stablecoins) migrating from the Ethereum network to the Blockstream Liquid sidechain in order to avoid well-known congestion issues.