Aussie Dollar Stablecoin Announced in Las Vegas

The ranks of stablecoins continues to grow, this time courtesy of the Stellar blockchain, according to CoinDesk.

Novatti Group

The Novatti Group, an Australian payment technology company, will release the coin on the Stellar blockchain on the 19th of November. As with other fiat-pegged tokens, the idea is that every token on the market will be backed by a single Australian dollar, held in trust by the company. It announced the news at the Money 20/20 conference in Las Vegas.

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Peter Cook, Managing Director of Novatti, told CoinDesk that the fact that his employer is listed on the Australian stock exchange will benefit this new cryptocurrency, because it inspires trust.

He said that the the company will be working with other licensed entities, including banks, but did not divulge names.

Legal tender

The purpose of the coin is to be a usable currency. Said Cook: “We think that people will use them to help purchase goods from Australian enterprises. And we think that will also use them for the payment of bills or for services inside of Australia.”

Bitcoin has been recognised as legal tender in Australia since September 2017, and blockchain firms required to register since January 2018.  In August, the Australian government’s scientific research department announced that it would be developing a national blockchain, into which it hopes to integrate a major part of the economy.

All the rage

Stablecoins are all the rage now. The first and biggest was and is Tether, which is tied to the US dollar. The management team is suspected of not really having the $2 billion that would be necessary to back it up, and for being too involved with a specific, and slightly suspicious, cryptocurrency exchange. What cannot be denied however is Tether’s influence on the cryptocurrency economy.

Since its success, others have been popping up regularly; there are or are planned coins based on the pound sterling, euro, Swiss franc, and more on the US dollar.

First stablecoin on Stellar 

This will be the first stablecoin launched on Stellar, which is an open-source blockchain network created by Jed McCaleb, who also created Mt Gox and co-created Ripple. The purpose of the network is to facilitate cross-border payments, and its cryptocurrency, XLM, has a market capitalisation of $4.6 billion, according to coinmarketcap.com.

IBM uses Stellar to operate its own crypto-token, Verde, which is supposed to help the environment by helping users manage their carbon footprints.