Digital Dollarisation Through Remittance Channels: a Stablecoin Substitution Vulnerability Index for Remittance-dependent Economies
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article develops and applies an original analytical instrument—the Stablecoin SubstitutionVulnerability Index (SSVI)—designed to measure the exposure of remittance-dependent economies to digitaldollarisation transmitted through migrant remittance channels. Existing assessments generally treat stablecoindrivencurrency substitution primarily as a function of macroeconomic instability and high transfer costs and,therefore, tend to classify low-inflation, low-cost corridors as relatively low-risk. Using data for eight remittancedependenteconomies for 2024–2025, the study constructs a five-component composite index combiningremittance dependence, the transfer cost wedge, residual financial dollarisation, digital access, and monetarycredibility. The results identify two distinct transmission channels: price arbitrage, operating in relativelyexpensive corridors, and access continuity, operating in corridors that are inexpensive but institutionally moresensitive to changes in settlement conditions. The Russia–Central Asia corridor belongs to the second type,where the formal channel is less expensive than the stablecoin alternative and adoption is driven primarilyby settlement continuity considerations rather than price. Scenario projections for Uzbekistan through 2030quantify the potential effects of partial substitution on foreign exchange supply and monetary policy autonomy.
Source: ECONOSCITECH INTEGRATION
Author: Imamova Mukhabbat Volnazarovna
Language: English
Subfield: Finance
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7204642749