Binance , the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has announced that it will be launching a dollar-denominated stablecoin
The cryptocurrency, called BUSD for Binance USD, will be launched in partnership with Paxos, a regulated financial institution, and comes complete with the blessing of the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).
Rich Teo, Paxos co-founder and CEO Asia, had this to say:
“NYDFS’s approval of BUSD is a vital step towards long term stability in global crypto markets. We are proud that our stablecoin as a service offering enables trusted companies like Binance to introduce products customized for their users.”
BUSD will be available later this month on the Paxos platform and it will be pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar. It will be available for trading initially against BTC, BNB, and XRP on Binance.com. Aside from acting as a partner to Binance, Paxos will also serve as the custodian and issuer of BUSD.
“Paxos is leading the digital trusts space and we are excited to work with them in developing our native stablecoin,” said CZ (Changpeng Zhao), Binance CEO. “We hope to unlock more financial services for the greater blockchain ecosystem through the issuance of BUSD, including more use cases and utility through the power of stable digital assets.”
Speaking of Paxos, the company has also launched gold-backed crypto-asset called Pax Gold (PAXG). It is the first such virtual currency authorized by the NYDFS, and – reminiscent of the pre-Bretton Woods era – each ethereum-based token has a legal title to a physical bar of gold stored in the Brink’s London vault.
Paxos CEO and co-founder Charles Cascarilla said that “by releasing a regulated product that makes it easy to own or trade gold,” the company is “using blockchain technology to democratize access to a multi-trillion-dollar market and bring gold into the digital future.”
Photo: Marco Verch Professional Photographer and Speaker / Creative Commo