John Cho, CEO of stablecoin issuer Ratio, is making the case for a multi-currency stablecoin ecosystem that could replace the slow, expensive foreign-exchange plumbing that still governs much of Asia's trade. Cho argues that relying on a single dollar-pegged stablecoin forces companies into double currency conversions, adding costs that a basket of local-currency stablecoins would avoid.
The correspondent banking bottleneck
Today, cross-border trade in Asia depends on a network of correspondent banks, pre-funded Nostro and Vostro accounts, and handoffs across time zones. The result: transactions that can take days to settle. Cho points to this system as outdated, with fees and delays that eat into margins for businesses moving money between, say, Thai baht and Indonesian rupiah.
Stablecoins have already shown they can move value almost instantly. But most stablecoins are pegged to the U.S. dollar, meaning a Thai exporter paid in a dollar stablecoin must still convert to baht to pay local staff. That second conversion — from stablecoin to local currency — recreates the very friction the technology was supposed to eliminate.
Local stablecoins as a complement
Cho's proposal is straightforward: issue stablecoins pegged to Asian currencies — the yen, the won, the ringgit — and let them trade alongside dollar stablecoins. A business in Singapore could pay a supplier in Jakarta using a rupiah stablecoin, skipping the dollar leg entirely. The idea is to avoid what Cho calls double foreign-exchange conversions, where a trader pays FX spreads twice instead of once.
Ratio itself is building infrastructure for such a system, though Cho did not disclose specific partnerships or launch dates. The company's pitch is that a multi-currency stablecoin network could plug into existing payment rails more easily than a complete overhaul of correspondent banking.
Whether regulators across Asia will bless multiple private stablecoins — each tied to a different national currency — remains the biggest hurdle. Central banks in the region have been cautious about digital currencies, and some are developing their own. Cho's vision depends on them seeing private stablecoins as a complement, not a competitor.
