Twenty five stablecoin issuers from 16 countries came together last week for an inaugural industry event at The Reform Club in London.
Project representatives and stakeholders pledged to join forces and form a collective network of stablecoin issuers, investors, exchanges, service providers and legal experts. They agreed to work together, meet on a regular basis and create a representative organisation to help drive widespread consumer adoption.
To date, around $350 million has been invested in this cryptocurrency market niche and 120 issuers have already been identified. Historically, exchanges issued their own stablecoins (e.g. Tether by Bitfinex). Things change, however, and countries, banks, multinational institutions, platforms and service providers are now entering the market.
At the event, delegates agreed to form working groups to focus on: market enablers, standards, building relationships with regulators and decentralised methods of collaboration.
Edan Yago, Founder of the unified stablecoin ecosystem CementDAO, commented: “There is a need for a currency as global as we are, so we need to figure out ways to collaborate in a non-hierarchical and decentralised manner. We believe we’re stronger when we come together and this union will enable the industry to build a fair, open, more innovative space for everyone.”
Nevin Freeman, Co-founder of Reserve, who spoke at the event, said: “It’s difficult to get a group of competitive teams to come together, even if they do have a shared interest, but building these relationships will be really important to developing the stablecoin ecosystem over the coming years. As an industry, we have to be careful to work together to guide the right projects to success, because it’s not about us. It’s about the success of the wider financial system.”
Joel Telpner of Sullivan & Worcester said: “In coming together to create a forum for collectively educating regulators and consumers and for proposing market-wide best practices, the stablecoin industry is taking a significant and positive leap forward.”
The issuers that participated in this event:
Aeternity, BitBay, CementDAO, Corion Foundation, Ekon, FiaPay, Forctis, Freedium, Freemark, Globcoin, Huobi, LBX, Mile, ndau, Noku, NOS,Pundix, Reserve, Stasis, stealth project based on renewable energy, Tempo, Tiberius, Token, Xank and Xapo.
Other participating stakeholders include:
Law firms and industry associations:
Baker Botts, DWF, GDF, ISOLAS, MME, Sullivan & Worcester
Investors:
Arie Capital, Cosimo Ventures, Mile Unity, NKB Group, Olymp Capital, Outlier Ventures, Pythagoras Investment
Exchanges & service providers:
Aeternity, Coinfirm, Fractal, HUOBI, Psion Finance, Sovren.App, Swisscom, Xapo
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. We do not give advice on financial products.