ETHPrague 2026

Why this talk matters

Most people think stablecoin risk is simple: "Is it backed 1:1?" In reality, the risk surface is multidimensional and interconnected. A fully-collateralized stablecoin backed by another stablecoin that can be frozen inherits that freeze risk. A coin with $2B market cap but $8M of DEX liquidity has an exit door that fits 0.4% of holders at once. And when one major stablecoin depegs, the cascade hits coins nobody expected — because nobody mapped the dependency graph.

After 7 years building in DeFi, I kept running into the same gap: there was no way to answer "what is the actual risk of holding this stablecoin?" with data rather than vibes. So I built Pharos.watch, an open analytics platform tracking 188+ stablecoins across every dimension that matters.

What the audience will learn

1. The freezability reality check — We track blacklist/freeze events hourly across 8 EVM chains + Tron. The data is stark: out of $330B+ in stablecoin supply, roughly $159M sits in assets that cannot be frozen or blacklisted by any entity. I'll break down what "unstoppable money" actually means on-chain vs. in marketing copy.

2. Systemic risk is not individual risk - I'll introduce the Pharos Stability Index (PSI), which measures ecosystem-wide stablecoin health every 30 minutes by synthesizing depeg severity, breadth, and forward-looking stress signals. The key insight: individual coin ratings miss contagion. When UST collapsed, assets with zero direct exposure still depegged because of shared liquidity pools and panic. PSI detects this class of risk.

3. Early warning before the depeg - The Depeg Early Warning System (DEWS) monitors 8 sub-signals - supply velocity (bank-run detection), DEX pool drift, liquidity erosion, cross-source price divergence, and more: to flag probable depegs 30 minutes to 2 hours before they fully manifest. I'll show real historical examples where DEWS would have fired before the market noticed.

4. Stress-tested safety scores — Letter grades (A–F) across four dimensions: exit liquidity, resilience, decentralization, and dependency risk. The twist: scores are recomputed under simulated stress conditions (contagion tests) to reveal which "safe" coins become fragile when the ecosystem is under pressure. I'll walk through concrete examples of coins that look safe in calm markets but drop 2+ letter grades under stress.