A Boston-based cryptocurrency startup, Circle, which has received formal financial backing from both Bitmain and Goldman Sachs, has announced it will be creating a new stable coin pegged to the U.S. dollar, to provide businesses and consumers with a more efficient way of exchanging value.
The statement follows a private funding round which netted the Circle project $110 million for its ERC-20 compatible token which will carry the same name.
Although no fixed date has been set for the launch, it is expected to be sometime this summer and will first be available as a trading pair through the Poloniex exchange that Circle already owns.
“Critical for enabling mainstream adoption…”
According to their website, Circle believe “A price-stable currency such as the US dollar (and similar stable currencies such as EUR, GBP, JPY, RMB, etc.) is critical for enabling mainstream adoption of blockchain technology for payments, as well as to support maturation in financial contracts built on smart contract platforms such as tokenized securities, loans, and property.”
While many will welcome the move, especially with the uncertainty surrounding the regulatory position of the most popular stable coin in circulation today – Tether – others are expressing concern at the players backing the project.
Bitmain has been criticised for exercising undue influence on the Bitcoin community through its Bitcoin mining monopoly, and Goldman Sachs themselves have a history of lawsuits for financial wrong-doing and expressing hostility in relation to the wider crypto-currency phenomenon.
Whatever viewpoint is held, however, the development presents further evidence, if such evidence was needed, of the increasing pace of adoption of digital assets by more traditional, established financial entities.
