What is a stablecoin?
A stablecoin is digital money that holds the value of a real currency: one token, one unit of that currency, backed by reserves and redeemable. It is built for payments and FX, not for speculation.
Put many of them on one order book and you get the substrate for fair foreign exchange: a Philippine peso stablecoin and a Singapore dollar stablecoin can trade directly, without either side being converted into US dollars first.
What keeps a stablecoin stable? Reserves. A well-run stablecoin holds the real currency (or equivalents) backing every token in circulation, published and attested. One token stays redeemable for one unit of the currency.
Are stablecoins the same as Bitcoin? No. Bitcoin's price floats freely; a stablecoin is designed not to move against its currency. Stablecoins are for payments and FX, not speculation.
What can I actually do with one? Send money across borders in seconds, hold a stronger currency than your local one, get paid internationally, or swap between currencies at the real rate. On Sera you can also earn by providing the liquidity that makes those swaps possible.