Stablecoins are a response to the wild volatility of cryptocurrencies. As the name suggests, a ‘stable coin’ is a cryptocurrency that seeks price stability, often against the US Dollar (‘USD’) or other global currencies. Stablecoins enable businesses to accept cryptocurrency in everyday transactions without having to risk fluctuations in the value of payments from one day to the next.
In July 2018, the EURS, a Euro-backed stablecoin launched in Malta, and last month two more high profile stablecoins from both Coinbase (USDC) and Gemini (GUSD) entered the market. Tether (USDT), also tied to the USD, already is the 10th largest cryptocurrency by market cap. There are different models for stablecoins, all of the above are fiat-collateralised stablecoins. Meaning, for instance, each EURS in circulation represents one Euro deposited in the bank account of EURS issuer Stasis.
SatoshiPay, a leader in global micropayment solutions, is planning to use EURT, issued on Stellar by licensed French money transfer company TEMPO, as its underlying settlement token.
Blue Star Capital PLC (LON:BLU) is an investing company with a focus on new technologies. Blue Star’s investments include a 31.4% holding in SatoshiPay.