Technology giants IBM have been at the frontline of the blockchain and cryptocurrency revolution for quite some time now.
According to a Reuters report, IBM in collaboration with financial services provider, Stronghold has launched a stable coin backed by the fiat dollar.
Powered by the Stellar Lumens blockchain network, the stable coin known as Stronghold USD went live today.
Unlike regular cryptocurrency projects that conduct initial coin offerings (ICOs) when they want to issue their tokens to the public, the Stronghold USD can only be purchased with fiat dollar at Prime Trust bank, at a conversion ratio of 1:1.
According to Stronghold, the token is targeted at businesses such as financial institutions, multinational firms as well as asset managers.
However, retail customers may be able to purchase them as time goes on.
“The engineering work has been done on this token, and we have seen a little bit of the early release of it, said IBM’s president of the global blockchain, Jesse Lund,” adding “IBM will explore use cases with business networks that we have developed, as a user of the token. We see this as a way of bringing financial settlement into the transactional business network that we have been building.”
Generally, cryptocurrencies offer a faster, cheaper and more secure means of sending cross-border payments.
Quite a vast array of firms have since adopted Ripple (XRP) for sending superfast payments globally.
The Stronghold USD is created to help firms to send payments and carry out other transactions seamlessly.
“The token allows folks to do payments, the foreign exchange between companies in a very seamless and frictionless and more secure way. It enables people to be able to trade that token with other assets and other tokens as well,” said Stronghold founder and Chief Executive Tammy Camp.
In a similar development, IBM has also allied with Columbia University to launch a center for distributed ledger technology called the Columbia-IBM Center for Blockchain and Transparency.
The center makes it easier for students to carry out blockchain research and they’d also have access to the firm’s internship programs.
IBM keeps blazing the trail in the blockchain ecosystem, and this latest development will undoubtedly pave the way for more of such projects in the cryptospace.
