Cryptocurrency startup Ripple introduced a stablecoin tied to the US dollar on Tuesday.
TakeAway Points:
- Crypto firm Ripple launched a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar.
- The stablecoin, RLUSD, will be available globally on a slew of platforms, including Uphold, Bitstamp, Bitso, MoonPay, Independent Reserve, CoinMENA, and Bullish.
- Alphabet’s Google is in talks with Italy’s government over plans to set up base stations in Sicily to develop infrastructure for a submarine fibre optic cable network across the Mediterranean.
RLUSD stablecoin
This is in an effort to upend a system where the top two players control almost 90% of the value.
The venture marks a major milestone for Ripple, coming more than a year after a landmark win in a case against the Securities and Exchange Commission last year.
However, it will face the uphill task of elbowing into a concentrated market where the two biggest players – Tether and USD Coin (USDC) – account for nearly 90% of the total market capitalization, according to data from CoinGecko.
The stablecoin, RLUSD, will be available globally on a slew of platforms, including Uphold, Bitstamp, Bitso, MoonPay, Independent Reserve, CoinMENA and Bullish, Ripple said.
Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to keep a constant value. They are backed by traditional currencies such as the U.S. dollar or euro.
They can be more suitable for payments and for converting crypto tokens into traditional currencies as they are shielded from the wild price fluctuations seen in bitcoin and ether .
Each RLUSD token is 100% backed by U.S. dollar deposits, U.S. government bonds and cash equivalents, Ripple said.
The company has appointed Sheila Bair, former chair of U.S. banking regulator Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., on the advisory board of RLUSD.
Previously, Bair was also the chair of the board at government-backed mortgage finance company Fannie Mae and the assistant secretary for financial institutions at the U.S. Treasury Department.
The board will include Ripple co-founder and executive chair Chris Larsen, along with David Puth, former CEO of CENTRE Consortium.
CENTRE, which previously oversaw USDC, was a joint venture between crypto exchange Coinbase and stablecoin network Circle. It was shut down last year, with Circle taking full control over the issuance and governance of USDC.
Italy discuss with Google concerning submarine network in Sicily
Alphabet’s Google is in talks with Italy’s government over plans to set up base stations in Sicily to develop infrastructure for a submarine fiber optic cable network across the Mediterranean, a cabinet undersecretary said on Tuesday.
“Google is very interested,” Undersecretary Alessio Butti told reporters on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting of the Group of Seven advanced democracies. “We are holding talks over base stations in Sicily.”
Google is already partnering with Telecom Italia’s (TIM) submarine cable unit, known as Sparkle, to operate two submarine cable systems linking the Middle East with southern Europe and Asia.
TIM this month entered exclusive talks with Italy’s Treasury and its partner Asterion to sell Sparkle by Nov. 30.
“The government considers Sparkle as a strategic company as 95 to 99% of internet traffic passes through submarine cables and about 16% involves the Mediterranean Sea,” Butti said.
