BIS paper suggests that stablecoins may not be the ideal form of tokenized money.

A Bank of International Settlements (BIS) working paper has explored the concept of singleness of money, highlighting the importance of public and private money trading at the same rates to prevent any disruptive ripple effects on transactions. The paper compared models of private tokenised money as a complement to central bank digital currency (CBDC), specifically analysing the impact of tokenisation on the singleness of money. Tokenisation is defined as "the process of representing claims in a digital form that allows them to be transacted on programmable platforms using smart contracts."

The paper outlines two types of tokenised money: bearer and non-bearer instruments. In the bearer model, the claim on the issuer is transferred without affecting the issuer's balance sheet. Stablecoins are an example of this model. In the non-bearer model, the sender is debited and the receiver is credited on their respective balance sheets as the settlement is made in central bank money. The commercial banking system currently operates on this model.

The authors of the paper drew parallels between bearer instruments and the days of "free banking" in the US before the creation of the Federal Reserve, when money could be discounted by its receivers. They noted that the depegging of stablecoins on permissionless exchanges can be compared to this situation.

The use of central bank money to settle tokenised money that is a non-bearer instrument guarantees a consistent exchange rate with the proper design. The paper noted that maintaining singleness between digital money and cash would depend on regulation: "Singleness between private tokenised money and cash would be supported in the same way it is now for commercial bank deposits, provided all private tokenised money issuers comply with the same regulatory standards and have access to the same safeguards."

The paper also examined the challenges and benefits of tokenisation in another working paper, finding a continuum of outcomes depending on the nature of the underlying assets