By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 12th, 2024
Wirex, a UK-based payment platform,has revealed that it is planning to launch 26 fiat-backed stablecoins on the Stellar Network.
A new era for the crypto world seems to come soon. A UK-regulated digital money provider has made an important announcement today. It is going to launch 26 fiat-backed stablecoins on the Stellar blockchain network.
Wirex and Stellar Cooperation
The year of 2018 that was marked with the prolonged bear market became an important period in the history of stablecoins. These digital coins backed by assets that have real value have managed to win the hearts of both individual traders and institutional investors.
And now the joint initiative of Stellar and Wirex is expected to give a new push to their development. Among the stablecoins that the U.K.-based firm is going to launch on the XLM platform there will be assets backed by various fiat currencies including the U.S, Hong Kong and Singapore dollars, the British pound and euro.
According to Wirex that is licensed by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), it is possible to spend the cryptocurrencies using Wirex’s multi-currency Visa card which facilitates the ways of paying with the help of crypto assets.
Jed McCaleb, Stellar co-founder, noted that thanks to their new development stablecoins will enter the payments space. As with the card offered by Wirex, it won’t be a problem to buy real-world goods and services with stablecoins.
He added:
“Stablecoins have the potential to transform the payments space, [they will] help make money more fluid and open to everyone.”
Till this moment the card support 10 fiat and 8 cryptocurrencies but as it has been announced this range will be significantly expanded.
Why This Move Is So Important
We won’t exaggerate if we say that such an initiative is really unique for the entire world. As Wirex has revealed, it will be possible to convert the stablecoins to other stablecoins at over-the-counter (OTC) rates as well as to find a wide range of use cases for them including such spheres as remittances, redemption token issuance, and merchant settlements.
Without any doubts, this development is important for both the industry in general and Stellar in particular. But if with the first case everything is clear, the second one requires some explanations.
Stellar has managed to unite fiat, cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and plastic cards. It was a hotly-anticipated move and finally it is here. Moreover, the Stellar network offers international transfers and currency exchange which means that now Stellar is ready to offer a wider range of services than Ripple that currently dominates this global remittance space
Speaking about their initiative, Pavel Mateev, Wirex co-founder, noted:
“Joining forces with Stellar makes perfect sense for us. Both companies share a greater goal – encouraging the mass adoption of digital currencies and transforming the way people make payments. We are thrilled to add XLM to the Wirex platform and even more excited to release our industry-first Wirex stablecoins.”
The Stellar network was chosen not randomly. It stands own from the row of other blockchains thanks to its enhanced security and scalability features, as well as lower costs for instant transactions. Moreover, Stellar’s token XLM will be also added to the list of supported assets.
In general, it is the most comprehensive approach to using cryptocurrencies ever. It offers practically all services one may need: from transferring funds to different corners of the world, to instantly converting them and using for payments.
It’s also worth mentioning that Stellar is being used by IBM for its payment network World Wire and in March it was disclosed that six banks had signed contracts to launch stablecoins on the platform.
All together these moves are great chances for Stellar to win the leadership and leave Ripple behind.