Are stablecoins the money market mutual funds of the future?

• Only fiat reserve backed (FRB) stablecoins are truly comparable to MMFs. • Primary market microstructure and use as short-term facilities is largely identical. • Same negative association between macroeconomic indicators and peg deviations. • FRB stablecoins with higher market capitalizations resemble MMFs more closely. This paper is the first to provide a comprehensive comparison of two financial instruments: stablecoins and money market mutual funds (MMFs). We observe similar reserve asset backing for fiat reserve backed (FRB) stablecoins and MMFs, similar importance of sponsor support, and the same negative association between macroeconomic indicators and peg deviations. Both instruments serve as short-term facilities for investors to park funds and their primary market microstructure is similar. However, FRB stablecoins exhibit larger dispersions from the dollar peg, significantly higher volatility, and a lack of transparency in their market infrastructure. Larger FRB stablecoins show reduced volatility compared to their smaller counterparts, with peg deviation drivers more closely resembling those of MMFs. We conclude that FRB stablecoins demonstrate remarkable similarities to MMFs and have the potential to become the MMFs of the future.