Virtual Assets Chamber
●4-week programme·8h total·5 modules

Stablecoins: A Strategic Primer

The program is delivered live online across four consecutive weeks. Each session runs for two hours, combining structured instruction with practitioner case studies, market vignettes and facilitated discussion. Cohort sizes are deliberately limited to preserve discussion quality. Participants receive curated optional reading and reference materials each week, drawn from regulatory primary sources, central bank publications, market data and institutional analysis. A Certificate of Completion is issued upon successful participation, with CPD credits available on request.

Stablecoins: A Strategic Primer

What you'll learn

  • Explain the structure, typology, mechanics and risk profile of the major stablecoins and distinguish them clearly from other cryptocurrencies, tokenised deposits and central bank digital currencies.
  • Map the global stablecoin landscape, including dominant issuers, networks, custodians and the emerging African ecosystem.
  • Navigate the principal regulatory regimes, including MiCA, the GENIUS Act, MAS, the UAE framework, the Kenya VASP Act and the wider African landscape, at a level sufficient for board-level discussion.
  • Assess the macroeconomic, monetary and financial-stability implications of stablecoin adoption, particularly for dollarised and remittance-dependent African economies.
  • Identify how stablecoin developments affect different institutional functions including strategy, product, treasury, compliance, legal and technology.
  • Engage with regulators, correspondent banks, fintech partners and clients on stablecoin matters using accurate vocabulary and defensible reasoning.
  • Build a personal framework for monitoring, evaluating and responding to stablecoin developments as the market continues to evolve.

Who it's for

Senior professionals across banking, finance, regulation, policy, technology and corporate strategy.

Prerequisites

None (open enrolment). This is the foundation course for the entire series.

Programme structure

5 modules · 30 lessons · self-paced after enrollment

Module 1

Introduction

  • Statement of Program Philosophy, Goals and Delivery
  • Purpose of the program
  • Expected learning outcomes
  • Mode of delivery
Week 1

Week 1 — The Instrument: What Stablecoins Are and How They Work

  • Defining a stablecoin with precision, and what it is not.
  • The full typology: fiat-collateralised, crypto-collateralised, commodity-backed, algorithmic, and bank-issued tokenised deposits.
  • The mechanics of issuance, redemption, reserves and peg maintenance.
  • The global market map: dominant issuers (USDC, USDT, PYUSD, EUR CoinVertible), blockchain networks, infrastructure providers and custodians.
  • The African issuer landscape and the emerging continental ecosystem.
  • Lessons from market events, including the Terra/Luna collapse, the SVB-USDC depeg and the regulatory responses that followed.
Week 2

Week 2 — The Regulatory Map: Global Frameworks and the African Landscape

  • The European Union: MiCA, the e-money token and asset-referenced token regimes and the significant-stablecoin overlay.
  • The United States: the GENIUS Act, federal versus state oversight and the OCC, Federal Reserve and FDIC positions.
  • The United Kingdom: the FCA approach, the Bank of England's systemic view and the Digital Securities Sandbox.
  • The United Arab Emirates: CBUAE Payment Token Services Regulation, ADGM and VARA.
  • Singapore, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Japan: the comparative Asian and European position.
  • Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Mauritius, Rwanda and Ghana: the African regulatory map.
  • The role of global standard-setters: FATF, BIS, FSB and IOSCO.
Week 3

Week 3 — Stablecoins in the Financial System: Payments, Macro and Monetary Policy

  • Stablecoins in cross-border payments, remittances and B2B settlement.
  • Trade finance, treasury and corporate FX applications.
  • The interaction with correspondent banking and the de-risking debate.
  • Stablecoins, tokenised deposits and central bank digital currencies: competition, complementarity and coexistence.
  • Financial-stability considerations: run risk, contagion and concentration.
  • Monetary sovereignty and the dollarisation question in African economies.
  • Implications for capital-flow management, exchange-rate policy and reserve-currency dynamics.
Week 4

Week 4 — Institutional Implications and Strategic Synthesis

  • How banks, asset managers, PSPs and fintechs are positioning, and what each is doing.
  • How regulators, lawyers and accountants are being affected, and how their work is changing.
  • The Institutional Stablecoin Engagement Decision Tree.
  • Selected African case studies, including bank-fintech partnerships and cross-border corridors.
  • Building a personal and organisational framework for ongoing engagement: information sources, professional networks, internal positioning and the questions to keep asking.
  • Strategic Synthesis Workshop.