As the stablecoin competition heats up, Goldman Sachs and their USD Coin are making a dramatic push into the market. Debuting across six different exchanges, USDC intends to crush criticism from the outset – showing that the new coin can go head-to-head with established stablecoins like Tether. Already available on exchanges like Poloniex, KuCoin and OKEx, USDC will now be offered on Everbloom, Hanbitco, Dispatch Labs, HACERA, BitUN and Cobo.
The new exchanges offer a solid cross-section of the industry as a whole; Everbloom and Dispatch Labs are Ethereum-focused, while Hanbitco is based on EOS. HACERA and BitUN are both designed to appeal to more institutional-level investors, while the prior offerings of KuCoin and OKEx both appeal to the average user.
USDC and the Stablecoin Market
Veteran crypto-enthusiasts are split on the value of stablecoins within the market. Some remains skeptical – believing that Tether is partly to blame for many of the market’s recent problems. Further, due to the lack of transparency, many investors are concerned that Tether is not properly backed with US Dollars. This is particularly distressing given Tether’s recent trading value below $1.00 – indicating a severe lack of confidence.
A coin like USDC, backed by legacy financial institutions, may help to correct this impact. The relative ‘safety’ of a stablecoin provides critical liquidity to the market. Stablecoins offer the ability to store value safely without completely removing it from the system – a feature that helped attract a considerable amount of institutional money. USDC’s considerable backing is only matched by GUSD – the Gemini stablecoin backed by the Winklevoss Twin’s exchange of the same name.
Stablecoin Competition
As mentioned, Tether or USDT is the current top of the Stablecoin market – but quickly dropping. Entirely a feature of the cryptocurrency market, it suffers from many of the same downsides. Tether’s leading members have been extremely resistant to auditing and opaque in all regards, driving confidence down over time.
This gave other coins a change to edge into the market – which has now expanded to multiple alternatives. Alongside USDC and GUSD, the market is also sustaining TUSD and PAX – offered by TrustToken and Paxos respectively. While all are fluctuating around the $1 mark, some have made considerable advances. GUSD in particular shot past $1.15 briefly, while the rest have consistently remained within five cents of their peg.
Article By: Adam Stone
