Larry Cooke: African Regulators Should Treat Stablecoins Separately From Other Crypto Assets

African regulators should avoid treating stablecoins simply as another category of cryptocurrency if they want to support their development as payment and financial infrastructure, according to Larry Cooke, Binance’s former Head of Legal for Africa.

Speaking to CoinAfrica during the Stablecon Salons Accra on Sept. 15, Cooke said regulators need to develop a more specific understanding of how stablecoins function, including their role in cross-border transactions, remittances, currency exposure and interoperability.

The Stablecon Salons Africa Series brings together industry operators, policymakers and infrastructure providers to discuss stablecoins, payments and digital-asset infrastructure across emerging markets.

Stablecoins require a distinct regulatory approach

Asked what regulatory mistake African countries should avoid as they develop stablecoin markets, Cooke pointed to a lack of sufficiently specific attention to the asset class.

He argued that regulators need to understand the different ways stablecoins can operate, including the distinction between local and foreign-currency stablecoins and their potential implications for monetary policy and national reserves.

That understanding should extend beyond financial regulation to practical consumer and infrastructure questions, including how stablecoins interact with remittances and cross-border transactions.

Cooke also highlighted the importance of technical standards and interoperability, arguing that regulators and industry participants can only properly address those issues when stablecoins are considered on their own terms rather than being grouped together with the broader crypto market.

“Stablecoins can be used as infrastructure but also as a digital asset class,” Cooke said.

The distinction is increasingly relevant as stablecoins move beyond trading and begin to feature in discussions around payments, settlement and access to dollar-denominated liquidity across emerging markets.

Education remains critical to adoption

While regulatory clarity is frequently identified as a prerequisite for institutional adoption, Cooke said regulation alone will not be enough to bring stablecoins into mainstream use.

He identified education as an important component of building broader adoption, particularly as consumers, businesses and other participants need to understand what stablecoins are and how they fit into the wider crypto economy.

For Cooke, education is necessary to bridge the gap between the technology being available and people understanding how it can be used.

His comments suggest that the industry’s challenge is not simply creating regulatory frameworks or launching products, but ensuring that users and institutions have sufficient knowledge to engage with the emerging financial infrastructure.

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Leadership needs to be more willing to experiment

Cooke also pointed to leadership as another important factor in Africa’s digital-asset development.

He argued that stablecoins and crypto represent a relatively new area requiring leaders to approach the sector with curiosity and a willingness to consider new models.

“You need a new type of thinking, or at least a braver type of thinking,” Cooke said, describing the leadership approach he believes the emerging sector requires.

Rather than approaching crypto solely as a new asset class, Cooke said leaders should consider the practical problems the technology is attempting to solve, including making financial services more accessible and reducing costs.

“There are use cases for why stablecoin and crypto are here,” he said, pointing to the existing financial ecosystem and the opportunity to make it more accessible and efficient.

That perspective places stablecoins within a broader conversation about financial infrastructure rather than solely speculative digital assets.

Africa’s stablecoin debate is becoming more practical

Cooke’s comments come as African markets increasingly examine how stablecoins can fit into existing payment and financial systems.

The Stablecon Salons Africa series has focused on practical questions around stablecoin infrastructure, including cross-border liquidity, treasury management, regulation and payment corridors.

For African regulators, the challenge is therefore evolving from whether digital assets should be regulated to how different digital-asset activities should be regulated according to their actual functions and risks.

Cooke’s comments point to three areas that could shape that process: a more precise regulatory understanding of stablecoins, greater public and institutional education, and leadership willing to engage with emerging financial technologies.

As stablecoins increasingly intersect with payments and cross-border finance, those questions are likely to become more important for African markets seeking to develop digital-asset infrastructure without treating every crypto product as having the same economic or regulatory characteristics.

Keep reading CoinAfrica for more on Stablecoin Regulation in Africa.