Bank of America, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs are among the firms teaming up to launch a stablecoin in the first half of next year.
The same banks rejected stablecoins until recently, and lobbied against them. Gina Heeb said the reversal is not a conviction that the product works. It is a hedge against the firms that got there first.
"It's largely a defensive strategy without knowing that Stablecoins will take off."
Heeb covers banks and finance for The Wall Street Journal and has been following the industry's turn on stablecoins since the banks were still fighting them.
I listened to the full segment so you can skip it.
Here are the 4 takeaways that matter.
👤 Guest: Gina Heeb, who covers banks and finance for The Wall Street Journal
🎙️ Host: Pierre Bienaimé of The Wall Street Journal, presenting the P.M. edition of What's News in place of Alex Ossola
📰 Published: 1 September 2026 on wsj.com (What's News, P.M. edition)
🟢 Spotify | 🟣 Apple Podcasts | 🔗 Show notes | ⏱️ 10 min
Key Takeaways
A bank-run stablecoin is being built for a use that barely exists yet Heeb said the tokens are mainly used today to move money in and out of cryptocurrencies
The coin belongs to a group of banks rather than to any one of them Bank of America, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs in the US, with Scotiabank, Santander and Deutsche Bank outside it
Banks tried their own answer first and it did not hold the line Tokenized deposits, a digital record of money already in a bank account, were meant to be enough
What changed the banks' minds was BlackRock and DoorDash, not the crypto industry
The money is being spent without knowing there is a market at the end of it Digital-asset regulation is still unsettled, which is the second risk Heeb named
1. Today it is a crypto tool
Pierre Bienaimé opened by asking what stablecoins are, who uses them and for what. Heeb started with what the tokens are used for now.
The use that exists today is trading, not payments. "Right now, they're mainly used to trade in and out of cryptocurrencies."
The wider case is cross-border payments. Heeb said the tokens could grow in popularity and be used to make transactions across borders faster, more efficient and cheaper She put that in the conditional and returned to the present tense to close, saying the tokens are still mainly used in the crypto world
Bienaimé gave the audience the definition himself before she came on: a stablecoin is a digital token pegged to the US dollar or another currency, used for transactions across borders
2. A coin owned by a group
This is a consortium coin rather than each bank issuing its own. Bienaimé put it to Heeb that the currency will belong to a group of companies, most of them banks, and she agreed
The roster runs past the US banks. "So we have all those big American banks outside of the US, we have Scotiabank. In Europe, we have Santander, Deutsche Bank."
The show's own reporting, read by Bienaimé, named Bank of America, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs among the US firms and put the launch in the first half of next year
3. Why banks switched sides
Bienaimé asked how an industry that lobbied against stablecoins ended up building one. Heeb answered with the product the banks tried first.
The banks' own answer was a tokenized deposit, which is not a stablecoin. Heeb described those as "essentially just a digital asset representation of traditional funds" — a digital record of money already sitting in a bank account
The plan was that it would be enough to hold off the competition. Heeb said the thinking was that tokenized deposits could combat some of the rising competition in the crypto world
What broke it was who else entered. She said firms from outside crypto had got into stablecoins, and named BlackRock and DoorDash
The conclusion the banks reached, in her words: "Banks have kind of said, maybe we need to be a little bit more defensive here."
Bienaimé noted that President Trump's family is also among the groups launching a stablecoin. Heeb confirmed it and the segment moved on without expanding
4. A bet that may go nowhere
Asked whether there are risks for the banks, Heeb named two, and neither is about the technology.
The first is that the banks spend the money and the market never arrives. "It's largely a defensive strategy without knowing that Stablecoins will take off." In that case, she said, the money is invested and does not really go anywhere
The second is that the rules are still being written. "And then whatever plays out with digital asset regulation remains uncertain."
Bonus Insights
The other two guest segments in this programme are written up separately — Jack Pitcher on the global selloff in government bonds, and Ben Fritz on Paramount's promise of 30 movies a year. The host-read headlines below ran across the whole programme and are carried here rather than repeated in those two
OpenAI answered Apple's trade-secrets lawsuit and called it baseless. Bienaimé reported that in a legal filing late the previous night, OpenAI said Apple is trying to damage its ability to recruit, and to block it from building AI devices that compete with the iPhone Apple's suit, filed in July, accuses two OpenAI employees who once worked at Apple of taking confidential information. OpenAI's answer is that the case largely comes down to Apple having poor offboarding procedures. Apple did not respond to requests for further comment
Germany publicly blamed Russia for explosive drones sent to Leipzig airport in August, which Bienaimé called a rare attribution of blame in a widening sabotage campaign across NATO territory that also covers drone incursions, cyber attacks and arson German interior minister Alexander Dobrindt said his country is a "daily target of hybrid warfare." Germany said it would close the last Russian consulate in the country, summon the Russian ambassador and tighten entry restrictions on Russians. The Kremlin did not respond to repeated requests for comment
The House passed a spending measure that funds the government past the midterm elections, extending current funding levels through December 11 on a vote of 370 to 48. It goes to the president's desk next Bienaimé said both parties want to avoid a shutdown and to leave Washington to campaign
The Journal reported exclusively that Republicans are asking more than $88,000 for a photograph with President Trump at next week's GOP midterm convention in Dallas, and $250,000 a person for a roundtable with him Trump and Vice President JD Vance are both scheduled to give keynote addresses at the two-day event. An RNC spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment
Heeb's bottom line is that the banks are building a stablecoin because other firms forced the question, not because they know the product has a market.
Products, Companies & Tools Mentioned
Bank of America, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs (The US banks named as part of the group launching a stablecoin in the first half of next year)
Scotiabank, Santander and Deutsche Bank (The non-US members Heeb named — one Canadian, two European)
BlackRock and DoorDash (Firms from outside crypto that entered the stablecoin market, which is what Heeb said pushed the banks to respond)
OpenAI and Apple (OpenAI called Apple's trade-secrets suit baseless and said it is aimed at its hiring and at its plans for AI devices)
Books & Resources Mentioned
Lawmakers Take Government Shutdown Off the Table Before Midterms (The Journal's story behind the House funding vote the programme reported)
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