$ADA: Cardano Getting Its First Fully Dollar-Backed Regulatory-Compliant Stablecoin

On Friday (18 November 2022), EMURGO, which is the commercial arm of Cardano, announced the planned launch of its new dollar-backed stablecoin USDA, which is “the first fully fiat-backed, regulatory compliant stablecoin in the Cardano ecosystem.”

EMURGO, which was founded in 2017, is “a global blockchain technology company providing solutions for developers, startups, enterprises, and governments”; and it “develops enterprise-grade applications, builds developer tools, invests in startups, and provides blockchain education.” The company has “offices and manages projects in Singapore, Japan, the USA, India, and Indonesia.”

According to EMURGO’s press release, USDA “leverages the stability of the U.S. Dollar combined with Cardano’s security, low fees, and eco-friendly blockchain” and offers “locks in the value of investors’ crypto assets by pegging 1:1 to the U.S. dollar, reducing volatility, and unlocking fast global transactions without legacy banking and payment infrastructure delays.”

EMURGO says it has “partnered with a regulated financial services company based in the United States to custody cash deposits, assuring the stablecoin is fully compliant and adheres to regulatory guidelines.” The hope is that USDA will “eventually lead to unlocking more reliable financial services to the Cardano ecosystem.” 

USDA is part of Anzens, EMURGO’s new product suite, which “aims to bridge the gap between traditional finance (TradFi) and DeFi.” Anzens will “provide a portal to regulated financial services products offered within the Cardano ecosystem wherein anyone can tokenize their dollars and move them as a Cardano-native asset.”

EMURGO Fintech Managing Director Vineeth Bhuvanagiri had this to say:

“The Cardano ecosystem was built on the ethos of bringing real-world applications to crypto and creating the foundation to build the economy of the future. The introduction of a fully fiat-backed, regulatory compliant stablecoin is the next step in realizing the future for our community.

“USDA is a native asset, freely exchangeable on Cardano, and backed by U.S. currency. This stablecoin not only offers stability to investors conducting financial transactions on the blockchain, but advances a path forward for the Cardano ecosystem to address a problem we are uniquely positioned to solve — banking the underbanked...

“Anzens is the next step in utilizing the Cardano ecosystem to address some of the biggest challenges the crypto industry faces in creating real-world solutions that seamlessly connect to the traditional financial services world. From managing Web3 balance sheets, to making card payments directly with crypto, to better lending and borrowing services, Anzens will set the standard for safe and secure portals between TradFi and DeFi.“

EMURGO went on to say:

“USDA is planned to launch on the Anzens platform in Q1 2023 where users will be able to tokenize their USD into USDA via credit/debit cards, Wire Transfer, ACH, or conversion of ADA. Alongside the tokenization of USD, EMURGO will soon enable the safe and convenient conversion of other stablecoins including USDC and USDT to USDA, with further plans to enable conversion and swaps of cryptocurrencies such as BTC, ETH, amongst others. The goal is for Anzens suite of products to include regulated borrowing and lending services, crypto to USD currency conversion for immediate card payments, and stake pools that pay out rewards in USDA.“

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