Diem Stablecoin Prepares for Liftoff With Fireblocks Custody Partnership

Diem Stablecoin Prepares for Liftoff With Fireblocks Custody Partnership

Crypto custodian Fireblocks and payments platform First Digital Assets Group are providing connectivity and support to diem, the global stablecoin and payments system formerly known as libra.

Fireblocks and First are providing the digital plumbing to allow financial service providers such as banks, exchanges, payment service providers (PSPs) and eWallets to plug into Diem on day one, the companies said.

Facebook unveiled the libra project in 2019 and almost immediately became embroiled in a whirlwind of regulatory blowback and governmental outrage. The project’s ambitious goal to create a private global stablecoin backed by a basket of fiat currencies threatened to unseat the high echelons of sovereign monetary policy.

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Now, the rebranded diem plans to emerge around the end of this quarter, with a modest minimum viable project based around a U.S. dollar stablecoin.

It will be integrated, via Fireblocks and First, with Diem Association members like Spotify, Farfetch, Lyft, Uber and Shopify. (It’s notable that former Libra Association members PayPal, Mastercard and Visa are busy pursuing their own plans with public cryptocurrencies.)

The streamlined project has bent to the will of regulators and operates on a strict permissioned basis with a specific onboarding process to become a diem virtual asset service provider, or VASP.

“What Fireblocks and First have built allows merchants and payment service providers to use the diem stablecoin as a payment method in a way that’s really integrated,” Michael Shaulov, CEO of Fireblocks, said in an interview. “It’s more or less seamless, like how they would accept Visa, Mastercard or any other form of payment.”

The diem payments system also allows things like refunds, and the stablecoin can be easily changed back into fiat to pay merchants or salaries and so on, Shaulov said. Looking further down the road, the network also includes a sophisticated smart contract language called Move, Shaulov added, which could be used in areas like permissioned decentralized finance (DeFi.)

Shaulov believes diem will still be one of the fundamental projects bringing crypto into the mainstream, despite taking a while to get off the ground and garnering criticism because of its narrowed-down launch product.

xSigma Prepares to Launch Its Stablecoin DEX With Major Backers – Press release Bitcoin News

xSigma Prepares to Launch Its Stablecoin DEX With Major Backers

press release

PRESS RELEASE. xSigma is a decentralized exchange and liquidity mining platform that supports stablecoin swaps. It enables dollar-pegged assets to be traded onchain with minimal slippage and lower fees than existing AMMs.

The project is gearing up for its public launch, when early adopters will have the opportunity to earn rewards for providing liquidity and traders can execute swaps in a highly liquid environment.

Backed by a NASDAQ-listed company, and developed by an experienced team that includes former Google engineers, xSigma has secured the support of several high profile figures. These include NBA star Dwight Howard, who has committed to participating in the xSigma launch as an early liquidity provider (LP).

Expectations are high ahead of xSigma’s debut, with a sizable community forming on Telegram, aided by extensive media coverage that has fueled interest in the decentralized exchange. The launch of xSigma coincides with the total value locked into defi protocols surpassing an all-time high of over $40 billion.

As the defi market accelerates, pulling thousands of new users and billions of dollars into its orbit, final preparations are being laid for the launch of xSigma. The deployment of the decentralized exchange could hardly come at a more favorable time: while interest in defi is at an all-time high, so are complaints from DEX traders, frustrated by the poor user experience.

While xSigma can’t fix all of these pain points — Ethereum’s network fees are beyond its purview — it can deliver a more pleasurable and profitable trading experience for its users. And that’s exactly what the team promises to do when xSigma debuts this month.

xSigma Lab Team: “Finally, the news you have all been wanting to hear: we’re pleased to confirm that the launch date for xSigma will be February 24. For everyone who’s on our mailing list, look out for an email dropping soon containing a link to our Resource Center where you can access guides and FAQs to help you master xSigma.

xSigma has been a long time in the making, and we’re grateful to our community and our backers for supporting us while we perfected our DEX. The wait is almost over and we promise you won’t be disappointed.”

If you haven’t already, join the mailing list HERE, join in the conversation on Telegram HERE and see you on the 24th for the xSigma launch!

This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release.

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Forget bitcoin, card firms should embrace stablecoin payments - Gartner

Research house Gartner has poured cold water on Visa’s recent move to support bitcoin trading on its network, arguing that the real revolution in payments would see centralised financial companies support stablecoin transactions on blockchains.

Earlier this week Visa outlined plans for the first pilot of its new suite of crypto APIs, following other industry players such as PayPal and Square in embracing the digital currency movement.

Gartner analyst Avivah Litan says that the move is welcome, and increase the “technical rails between consumers, businesses and blockchains, and help prepare the transition to future payment infrastructure”.

However, in a blog, she also notes that it is “hardly a revolution”. Having centralised financial companies that earn revenues by charging transaction fees at the centre of crypto goes against the peer-to-peer ideals of blockchain payments.

“Potential users are left to wonder if, in the future, they will have to pay these centralised services additional transaction fees for moving cryptocurrency across peer-to-peer blockchain networks, defeating the promise of blockchain,” writes Litan.

Her answer to this problem is for card brands and other established players to provide the on and off ramps for payors and payees using stablecoins, without being involved in the actual payment that would occur on the blockchain.

This would mean Visa and its peers would not get a transaction fee but would make money from issuers and acquirers using services such as risk management, onboarding and protections for balances.

Concludes Litan: “The question remains: will these centralised financial services companies go forward in line with the spirit of blockchain peer to peer payments at the risk of cannibalizing their existing central-clearing house based-revenue streams? The answer will depend on whether or not these firms have any practical choice.”