In a world where cryptocurrencies are still considered by some to be the black sheep, it’s nice to see strides being made to give them their proper place in society. One of the most common areas where they are shunned is in the banking sector, but that is changing. For example, the London Block Exchange (LBX) is introducing a new service that will give customers in the UK a banking option for both their fiat and their crypto assets.
The LBX platform, LBX Pay, will allow users to store, transfer and manage funds, whether they be “regular” currency or digital. It is going to be offered, at first, to the business market, but could eventually be rolled out to other sectors, as well. LBX states that the retail version will “provide all consumers with a whole new way to interact with their cryptocurrency.”
LBX Pay will be available to traders, investment fund managers and initial coin offerings (ICO). The platform is designed to give customers an easy way to convert traditional fiat to crypto without having to move funds between accounts or across multiple service providers.
Users can manage their balances, payments and trades – including third-party payments – using a single app. In the event a business customer needs support for significantly larger transaction volumes, LBX will provide access to its over-the-counter (OTC) trading desk. An application programming interface (API) is scheduled to be released early next year to facilitate the access.
As an added security measure, cryptocurrency will be held in cold storage, not connected to the Internet. Traditional fiat will be held in segregated bank accounts and each will have its own IBAN (international bank account number) for routing.
LBX launched its OTC desk in November of last year. It also serves as a crypto wallet services provider, which is registered with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority. The LBX Pay platform is more than likely being facilitated through a partnership between LBX and Clearbank, a bank that was formed last year by Nick Ogden, founder of the Worldpay payment services company.
LBX supports Bitcoin BCH and Ethereum Classic (ETC) pairs against the British pound. That support was introduced this past May.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
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A UK-based cryptocurrency exchange has launched a new stablecoin pegged to the pound sterling (GBP), the latest in a series of similar cryptocurrencies to pair one-to-one with fiat currencies.
Launched by London Block Exchange, the stablecoin will officially be known as LBXPeg. The currency will be tied to the value of the pound and backed by funds in an auditable UK bank account on a one-to-one basis.
Dubbed the ‘cryptopound,’ the exchange envisages the currency being used as a utility token, including amongst institutional investors, for facilitating fiat-equivalent peer-to-peer transactions over the blockchain, or for tokenized settlement of OTC trades.
In an interview with Business Insider ahead of the launch, LBX CEO Benjamin Dives explained a number of potential use cases: “We will be ready for the first cryptopound to be minted in the next 10 days. The primary use case will be settlement for OTC trades in the London market, then commonwealth exchanges where they don’t have fiat banking, and then securities tokens who want to pay dividends in a cryptopound.”
LBX is proud to announce the worlds first GBP backed stablecoin!#LBXPeg https://t.co/lvOf2UaYDk
— LBX, The London Block Exchange (@LBXSocial) September 30, 2018
LBX launched back in November 2017, and has since gone on to become one of the busiest cryptocurrency exchanges in the UK. In backing the stablecoin concept with the GBP-pegged cryptopound, LBX is signalling its support for the technology and its use cases.
Pioneered by the USD-backed tether (USDT), the stablecoin concept has emerged as a highly functional application of cryptocurrency, secondary to the payments use case demonstrated by bitcoin BCH.
However, USDT has come in for some criticism, notably around a lack of transparency and accountability—criticisms LBX has said it had in mind when creating its fully transparency auditing processes and management structures.
Following the release of the cryptopound, the firm has indicated its intention to explore similar stablecoins for U.S. dollar and Euro.
The announcement from LBX follows after Goldman Sachs-backed Circle announced its USD Coin, a USD-backed stablecoin which aims to improve on the flaws identified in USDT. It comes at a time of increasing interest in stablecoins, and how they can be used in international settlement, dividend distribution, and a number of other specific use cases.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Yet another stablecoin makes its debut via London Block Exchange appeared first on Coingeek.
