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Fireblocks and ANZ Create AUD Stablecoin
About $30 million has been minted so far.
By Sam Reynolds
Updated May 11, 2023, 5:23 p.m. Published Mar 24, 2022, 4:35 a.m.
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Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has teamed up with crypto custodian Fireblocks to mint a stablecoin pegged to the Australian dollar.
- According to the bank, this is the first time a major bank has been involved in the creation of a stablecoin.
- The bank created the stablecoin for Victor Smorgon Group, a large family office based in Australia, which plans to use it to trade on the Melbourne-based exchange Zerocap.
- "An ANZ-issued Australian dollar stablecoin is a first step in enabling our customers to find a safe and secure gateway to the digital economy," said ANZ Banking Services Portfolio Lead Nigel Dobson in a press release.
- The Victor Smorgon Group said that transferring assets to Zerocap via a stablecoin took 30 minutes compared to the usual day or two for a fiat wire transfer.
- Michael Shaulov, CEO of Fireblocks, said in a statement he expects more banks to follow ANZ’s lead.
- As a custodian and infrastructure provider, Fireblocks has worked with BNY Mellon (BK), Siam Commercial Bank, Revolut and Crypto.com.
- ANZ’s A$DC will initially be marketed toward institutional clients, with retail availability on an Australian crypto exchange coming later.
- A$DC is currently based on the Ethereum blockchain, but ANZ said it plans to expand it to Hedera and other chains in the near future.
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- Even a 1% crypto allocation in standard portfolios across Asia could translate into nearly $2 trillion of inflows, highlighting how modest shifts in asset allocation could transform the digital asset market, according to the head of APAC iShares at BlackRock, Nicholas Peach.
- BlackRock's iShares unit, whose U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETF IBIT has rapidly grown to about $53 billion in assets, is seeing strong demand from Asian investors as ETF adoption accelerates across the region.
- Regulators in markets such as Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea are moving toward broader crypto ETF offerings, but industry leaders say investor education and portfolio strategy will be critical to channeling traditional finance capital into digital assets.
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