US Bank Joins Stablecoin Fray, Circle Acquires Tazapay to Boost Asia Rails
US Bank has launched its proprietary stablecoin, USBDC, following a successful pilot transaction using the Stellar payments network. The bank partnered with Stellar on the stablecoin project last November and conducted the test to evaluate minting, payment redemption, freezing, and clawback capabilities.
The pilot demonstrated US Bank's ability to accelerate global cash management and money movement abilities, according to CEO Gunjan Kedia. Potential USBDC applications include enhanced liquidity management, collateral mobility, cross-border treasury operations, and other institutional use cases where blockchain technology can improve efficiency, transparency, and settlement speed.
US Bank is one of the few US banks to adopt a go-it-alone stablecoin strategy, mirroring JPMorgan's launch last year of its stablecoin/‘deposit token’ JPM Coin. However, Circle and Tether, issuers of USDC and USDT respectively, are not threatened by these bank-backed stablecoins as they have promoted cross-border transfers as key features of their tokens.
Circle has announced that it will acquire Tazapay, a Singapore-based B2B cross-border payments infrastructure company. The acquisition aims to boost Asia rails for Circle's USDC token and will see Circle acquire all outstanding shares beyond the 5.23% stake it already holds in Tazapay.
Meanwhile, Circle's partnership with Chelsea FC is causing unease among Hong Kong fans, who are worried that wearing shirts featuring the USDC logo might be seen as promoting an unlicensed token.