The largest stablecoin issuer by market cap, Tether, announced on Wednesday that they’re all set to launch a token pegged to the British pound as London plans to become a global cryptocurrency hub.
Like USDT (Tether’s US dollar-pegged token), GBPT will also launch on the Ethereum blockchain, however, this time with a fixed value of £1.
In a recent article about the launch, Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Tether, said:
“We believe that the United Kingdom is the next frontier for blockchain innovation and the wider implementation of cryptocurrency for financial markets. We hope to help lead this innovation by providing cryptocurrency users worldwide with access to a GBP-denominated stablecoin.”
GBPT will be the fifth offering from the company’s arsenal of currency-pegged stablecoins, following USDT, Chinese Yuan-pegged CHNT, Mexican peso-pegged MXNT, and euro-pegged EURT.
The launch comes amid the recent carnage in the crypto market and Luna’s algorithmic stablecoin collapse, which rocked the entire segment and drew closer attention to stablecoins.
Despite the negative sentiments around stablecoins, Tether said that its business is more than stable and referred to the latest withdrawals to demonstrate its network’s strength.
In another article, Tether said:
“Tether recently faced redemption requests for $10bn of USDT redemptions within a single week and was able to fulfil all requests in full with ease; $10bn of redemptions represented more than 12% of outstanding USDT tokens. No bank in the world could process the withdrawal of 12% of its outstanding liabilities within a week.”
The firm claims that one-to-one US dollar reserves underpin every Tether to maintain stability. MHA, a Cayman-based accounting firm, validates the company’s reserves quarterly. However, the recent events propelled Tether to prepare for a full audit from a top-12 accounting firm in a bid to improve transparency.
Meanwhile, Britain intends to extend its continued support for the sector while admitting that stablecoins might be an area requiring further legislation.
