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Georgia is set to issue an official stablecoin pegged to the Georgian lari, in a partnership between Tether, the Georgian government and the National Bank of Georgia, announced on May 25. The token, designated GEL₮, will represent a one-to-one claim on the lari and is intended to serve as digital infrastructure for payments, financial inclusion and potential integration with international settlement systems.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, National Bank of Georgia President Natia Turnava and Member of Parliament Vakhtang Turnava were cited in the announcement as backing the initiative, framing it as part of a broader effort to modernise Georgia's financial system and position the country as a digital economy hub in the South Caucasus.
Tether chief executive Paolo Ardoino said GEL₮ would demonstrate that "stablecoins are no longer a niche financial instrument," pointing to the company's USDT token – which is approaching $190 billion in market capitalisation – as evidence of stablecoins' capacity to function as mainstream monetary infrastructure.
The project is structured to be compatible with the US GENIUS Act, the stablecoin legislation advancing through Congress that would establish a federal framework for dollar-pegged tokens and, by extension, set a template other jurisdictions might follow. Georgia's decision to align GEL₮ with that framework suggests an intention to facilitate cross-border interoperability with US-regulated stablecoin infrastructure.
The GEL₮ arrangement differs from a central bank digital currency in that it relies on Tether's issuance infrastructure rather than direct central bank issuance, though the National Bank's involvement implies regulatory oversight will be closer than in typical commercial stablecoin arrangements. No timeline for the public launch of GEL₮ has been announced.
