The UK-registered cryptocurrency company BCP Technologies has officially launched a new pound-backed stablecoin after 14 months of rigorous scrutiny in the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulatory sandbox.
The company announced the official launch of its tokenized pound (tGBP) stablecoin on June 3 in a statement shared with Cointelegraph.
tGBP is now live on the cryptocurrency trading platform BCP Markets operated by BCP Technologies, and customers who have completed KYC identity verification can use it immediately. Several major exchanges are expected to list the stablecoin in the coming weeks.
"We are finalizing details with two major exchanges. We hope to announce these partnerships in the coming weeks," said BCP Technologies CEO Benoit Marzouk in an interview with Cointelegraph.
The timing of the tGBP launch coincides with the FCA's public consultation that began on May 28 regarding new regulatory proposals for stablecoin issuers and crypto custody service providers.
According to Marzouk, BCP Technologies is in a unique strategic position, and its tGBP may be seen as a "practical proof of concept for the future FCA stablecoin regulatory framework."
"BCP is working closely with the FCA and will participate in the FCA's roundtable discussion on the recently released consultation document on July 4," the CEO stated.
tGBP is fully backed by cash held in segregated bank accounts, with each minted token precisely representing a value of 1 pound. The stablecoin is launched as an ERC-20 token, meaning it was initially issued on the Ethereum blockchain.
"BCP plans to use short-term UK government bonds to back tGBP in the future, which aligns perfectly with the guidance direction of the FCA discussion document," Marzouk revealed to Cointelegraph.
As the issuing entity, BCP Technologies has been a registered crypto asset service provider with the FCA since 2021, with its predecessor being BitcoinPoint.
"Historically, it was a platform called 'BitcoinPoint' aimed at popularizing Bitcoin usage, allowing anyone to easily purchase Bitcoin," Marzouk explained, adding, "When regulatory policies emerged in 2020, BCP had to stop cash operations and transform into a more standardized 'online purchase' application. BCP was the first crypto company to implement open banking; users could purchase Bitcoin through instant linking of bank accounts."
During the launch phase, tGBP targets a wide range of applications, including retail and corporate self-custody services as a banking alternative, cross-border payment solutions, institutional collateral management systems, and decentralized finance lending platforms.
Marzouk stated that this innovative stablecoin is also expected to become a primary pound trading channel for settling tokenized assets such as bonds, securities, or real estate.
"Stablecoins enable open, instant, and frictionless value transfer, effectively mitigating market volatility risks. Our strategic vision is to simplify the technical complexities of blockchain through the familiarity of pound pricing, ultimately replacing traditional pound electronic money with our pound stablecoin," the CEO emphasized in the announcement.
BCP's launch enters a market with limited competition.
According to CoinGecko, at the time of writing, there are only two tracked pound stablecoins, including VNX Pound (VGBP) and Celo Pound (CGBP), with a total market capitalization of less than $500,000.
Other pound stablecoin projects include the "poundtoken" (GBPT) stablecoin launched by Blackfridge in 2022 and the pound (GBPA) stablecoin developed by members of the Digital Pound Foundation, Agant.
Tether, the issuer of the world's largest stablecoin USDt (USDT), attempted to launch a pound stablecoin in 2022, but the product did not gain significant adoption in the market.
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Original article: “UK FCA-Approved BCP Company Launches Pound Stablecoin”
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