The redemption promise as the legal core

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A stablecoin is a token designed to hold a constant value against a reference, almost always a fiat currency and overwhelmingly the US dollar. By mid-2026 the aggregate supply of dollar stablecoins exceeded USD 250 billion, with Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC accounting for most of it. Every lawyer who touches digital assets now meets stablecoins daily, because they are the settlement asset of the crypto markets, the treasury asset of most crypto businesses and, increasingly, a payment rail for ordinary commerce.¹

The technology is of no interest to the law. A stablecoin is an ordinary fungible token on an ordinary ledger. What interests the law is the promise behind it. A stablecoin holds its value because someone has undertaken to redeem it for the reference asset, or because a mechanism exists that is supposed to achieve the same result. The content of that undertaking, the person who gives it and the assets that back it determine every legal consequence. This chapter organises the subject around the redemption promise, because that is how both Swiss and Singapore law organise it.

Notes

Figures from public dashboards (DefiLlama, Coin Metrics) as at June 2026 are approximate; the Bank for International Settlements Annual Economic Report 2025, chapter III, gives an institutional overview of stablecoin growth. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of October 2026.

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Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

Of Counsel, KGP Legal LLC

I am Of Counsel with KGP Legal LLC in Singapore, where I work with a global client base of successful entrepreneurs and their families, independent asset managers, commodity trading houses and other commercial clients. I am a German and Swiss attorney-at-law, also admitted as a solicitor in England & Wales and in Hong Kong. I divide my time between Zug in Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong. Since 2017 I have advised international clients on more than 700 crypto and digital asset projects. I also have extensive experience in cross-border litigation and arbitration in Singapore, Hong Kong and other markets in South-East Asia and Greater China.

I operate across the key financial centres in South-East Asia, the Middle East and Switzerland, with a particular focus on asset protection, international tax and estate planning, as well as trusts, company administration and other fiduciary services. My philosophy is to serve as a trusted advisor working closely with my clients and to help them achieve their commercial objectives.

All Singapore law advice is provided through KGP Legal LLC, an established and duly licensed firm of Singapore advocates and solicitors.

KGP Legal LLC is a medium-sized law firm in Singapore that is capable of providing the full range of legal services and corporate administration work. Please contact me directly at [email protected] if you need any further information.

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SingaporeIQ is edited by Dr Alexander Ressos, an international business lawyer with more than 15 years of local experience in Singapore as a permanent resident, a Singapore registered foreign lawyer and managing partner of a Singapore foreign law practice. In addition to significant experience in cross-border investments and transactions, UHNWI private client work and sanctions/export controls, Dr Ressos has extensive experience in cross-border business and in crypto and digital-asset projects in Singapore, drawn from more than 700 projects since 2017.

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