# Is Tether the Coppernose of Our Time?

1 Opinion June 12, 2026By Kim Schoenholtz and Stephen Cecchetti

Financial Times ![Kim Schoenholtz](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/con_033448.jpg?itok=-Wg03fdj)In 1544, Henry VIII began debasing England’s silver coinage to fund his wars. The new coins were mostly copper beneath a thin silver wash. With use, the silver wore off the raised areas — most notably the king’s nose, earning him the nickname Old Coppernose.

Henry’s subjects responded as people usually do to the debasement of their means of payment. They hoarded the older silver coins and paid with the coppernoses. Bad money drove out good — a pattern economists now call Gresham’s Law.

A modified version of that pattern is now playing out among stablecoins — privately issued digital tokens that promise to maintain a fixed value, typically one US dollar.

Read the full [*Financial Times* article](https://www.ft.com/content/bcdeac73-5855-4d8b-b512-5ba65a2e01ad).
\_\_\_\_
*Kim Schoenholtz is Clinical Professor Emeritus at NYU Stern.*

## More from Kim Schoenholtz

- [Ignore the Bank Lobby, Regulators. It’s High Time For Banking Reform.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/ignore-bank-lobby-regulators-its-high-time-banking-reform)
- [The Dangerous Role of America’s Weird Lenders-of-Next-to-Last Resort.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/dangerous-role-americas-weird-lenders-next-last-resort)
- [Making Banks Safe.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/making-banks-safe)
- [Managing Disinflations](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/managing-disinflations)
- [The Russian Invasion and the Risks to Global Financial Stability.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/russian-invasion-and-risks-global-financial-stability)