The Bank of Canada recently announced that it will only endorse fiat-backed, high-quality stablecoins to define them as “good money” in line with the nation’s objective to modernize its financial system.

“We want stablecoins to be good money, like bank notes or money on deposit at banks,” Tiff Macklem told the Montreal Chamber of Commerce.
Translation: “Queremos que las stablecoins sean como dinero bueno, como los billetes de banco o el dinero depositado en bancos.”

Macklem emphasized that the stablecoins should be pegged at a 1:1 ratio to a central bank currency and supported by “high-quality liquid assets” that can easily be converted to cash, like Treasury bills and government bonds.

These remarks come as Canada prepares to set regulations for stablecoins expected by 2026, following a detailed report published in November 2025 that laid out the need for stablecoin issuers to maintain sufficient reserves and build risk management frameworks.

The regulations aim to ensure that Canadians benefit from the innovation of stablecoins in a secure environment. Macklem stated that the goal is to provide Canadians the ability to leverage the potency of stablecoins while ensuring their safety.

Last month, Lucas Matheson, CEO of Coinbase Canada, mentioned that these forthcoming stablecoin regulations would fundamentally alter how Canadians engage with money and digital platforms.

As the landscape of digital finance evolves, Canada joins several other nations in enhancing its financial structure to facilitate faster, cheaper, and more secure transactions for its citizens.