Stablecoins Wake Up Wirecard-Scarred Germany: Lionel Laurent

German financial regulator BaFin doesn’t seem to be hyped up when it comes to stablecoins — blockchain-issued cryptocurrencies designed to mimic the dollar — whose potential in payments has whipped up enthusiasm on the stock market. After a first warning against a Frankfurt-based stablecoin issuer called Ethena, which BaFin accused of serious organizational shortcomings and breaches of European Union crypto rules, the regulator last week instructed it to wind up business.

No doubt BaFin is trying to make up for the spectacular collapse of payments processor Wirecard AG five years ago, the biggest fraud in German history. Back then, BaFin was very much in a hyped-up ...