Stellar (XLM) Turns Stablecoin Maker for 2 Million EU Customers and Business Clients

Stellar looks set to become one of the most utilized platforms for stablecoins after it was announced Wirex is launching 26 fiat-backed tokens on the XLM blockchain.

Wirex is a legally approved UK-based fiat-onramp for 18 currencies, including BTC, ETH, XRP, LTC, WAVES, XLM and more. By adopting Stellar’s technology for the creation of regulated, trusted stablecoins, Wirex could be simultaneously giving the project one of its most substantial use cases to date.

Wirex Launches 26 Stablecoins on Stellar

As reported in Reuters, Wirex plans to launch 26 fiat-backed stablecoins on the Stellar blockchain, including digital tokens for USD, EUR, GBP, HKD and SGD fiat currencies. One thing to note here is that these stablecoins will be able to spent via the Wirex Visa card service, just like the Dai (DAI) stablecoin already present on the app. That’s in stark contrast to Tether (USDT), which can’t even be redeemed on Bitfinex at this point in sums less than $100,000, if at all.

The announcement lists more firsts for the stablecoin industry, such as:

• The first stablecoins that can be spent seamlessly in day-to-day life using the multi-currency Wirex Visa card
• The first stablecoins pegged to a wide variety of major fiat currencies, including USD, EUR, GBP, HKD and SGD with exchange at interbank rates
• The first stablecoins that can be instantly converted to other stable digital currencies at OTC rates
• The first stablecoins released by an FCA-regulated fiat and crypto payments company

Also noted is the possibility for international remittance, and a bypassing of Visa and Mastercard infrastructure. This sounds remarkably close to the XRP use case, only Wirex is already approved by regulators, and the Stellar Foundation doesn’t need to convince banks to join its network.

Pushing Mass Adoption of Cryptocurrency

Wirex co-founder Pavel Mateev said his own company shares the same goals as Stellar in spreading cryptocurrency to the masses:

“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.”

Stellar co-founder Jed McCaleb talked up the potential of stablecoins to disrupt existing payment structures. He said:

“Stablecoins have the potential to transform the payments space. We’re excited to be working with Wirex to launch its first stablecoins to help make money more fluid and open to everyone.”

As far as partnerships go, I would suggest this is in a different league from the usual plethora of hyped-up announcements we’re subject to in the crypto space. Wirex has processed over $2 billion worth of transactions since launch in 2015, and caters to a growing Europe-wide market with a wide variety of popular, and niche cryptocurrencies.

The addition of internationally-pegged currencies will only open up Wirex, and Stellar, even more to global utilization in the future.

Disclaimer: The author owns bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies. He holds investment positions in the coins, but does not engage in short-term or day-trading.

Featured image courtesy of Shutterstock.

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