Crypto firm Galaxy looks to collaborate with asset management firm DWS and trading specialist Flow Traders. Their goal is to introduce a stablecoin to accelerate the widespread adoption of on-chain assets.
The forward-looking plan seeks to capitalize on an evolving regulatory framework in Europe, but will ultimately hinge on various approvals.
The proposed stablecoin, named AllUnity, will be fully collateralized and denominated in euros, the company said Wednesday. The entity is planned to be incorporated in Frankfurt. Its next step involves applying for an E-money license from the German financial regulator BaFin. The company’s aim is to launch the stablecoin within 12 to 18 months.
The stablecoin intends to launch on several public permissionless blockchains, including Ethereum and Solana, a spokesperson told Blockworks.
Read more: SocGen’s crypto unit debuts euro-pegged stablecoin
“Digital currencies are the natural evolution of the world’s payment system, and Europe — a region at the forefront of the exploration of safe, secure digital money — is paving the way for this inevitable shift,” Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz said in a statement.
The firms expect to appoint Alexander Höptner as AllUnity’s CEO, according to the Wednesday news release. Höptner has extensive experience as a chief executive, leading teams at 100x Group — the holding structure for crypto trading platform BitMEX — as well as stock exchange Börse Stuttgart GmbH and financial services firm Euwax AG.
The plans come after passage of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation in April. US lawmakers have lagged behind in making similar progress on such a framework.
The Europe regulation “we believe will contribute to growing the stablecoin market as it provides a robust regulatory framework that enhances investor protection and market integrity,” Höptner said in a statement.
Stablecoins — digital assets pegged to the value of another asset or fiat currency — have a combined market capitalization of roughly $130 billion, according to CoinGecko data.
Tether (USDT) is the dominant player in the segment with a market cap of about $90 million, USDC and DAI are a distant second and third with market caps of $24 billion and $5 billion, respectively.
Payments giant PayPal debuted a dollar-backed stablecoin — issued on Ethereum by Paxos Trust Co. — in August.
Stablecoins enable peer-to-peer value transfers and protect against unstable currencies, as noted by Pantera Capital product manager Jeff Lewis in an October letter. They also enable users to conduct transactions without relying on the trustworthiness of service providers, but don’t come without risks.
Read more: Stablecoins set to succeed where BTC, ETH failed: Pantera
Galaxy has crypto-focused asset management, global markets and digital infrastructure business units. The firm in September hired ex-Genesis sales head Leon Marshall as its CEO of Europe, noting the continent is critical to its growth strategy.
Germany-based DWS — formerly a part of Deutsche Bank — had 860 billion euros (about $929 billion) in assets under management, as of Sept. 30.
Flow Traders, headquartered in the Netherlands, offers liquidity across major exchanges and trading platforms via its trading hubs in Europe, the US and the Asia Pacific region.
Galaxy and DWS have worked together before, expressing the intent earlier this year to roll out exchange-traded products in Europe. Galaxy, with partner Invesco, is among the fund issuers vying for a spot bitcoin ETF in the US.
In a statement, DWS CEO Stefan Hoops highlighted that corporations with internet-of-things (IoT) businesses could use the proposed stablecoin to make fractional payments. He noted that these transactions could occur around the clock, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Hoops added: “Through the future creation of AllUnity, we will bridge the gap between the traditional and digital finance ecosystems to build a core infrastructure provider that facilitates secure on-chain settlement for institutional, corporate and private use.”
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Source: https://blockworks.co/news/euro-denominated-ethereum-stablecoin-launch