Australian Stables co-founder Bernado Bilotta stated that stablecoins are beginning to emerge from “crypto-native” applications and enter the mainstream.
Stables, an Australian stablecoin payments startup, has announced its expansion to Europe and the United Kingdom in partnership with Mastercard. Co-founder Bernado Billota believes this move indicates a broader trend of dollar-pegged assets entering the mainstream.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Bilotta stated that the expansion was a significant milestone for his company. He noted that the total addressable market of new consumers in Europe had increased by approximately twenty times the size of Australia.
The new partnership will enable Stables users to purchase Circle’s USD Coin in 27 European countries, where MasterCard is accepted, and through digital vendors such as Apple and Google Pay.
He further stated that stablecoins are no longer exclusively for those who “live and breathe crypto.” Alternatively, individuals who genuinely need to utilize dollar-pegged assets purchase them.
According to Bilotta, stablecoins, which Morgan Stanley has called “crypto’s killer app,” have now firmly emerged from “crypto-native” circles.
Bilotta observed that the product with the most reliable “product-market fit” was ironic, even though crypto is notoriously speculative.
“Everybody in crypto is talking about Dogwifhat — stuff that goes up and down — but if you look at the data, the thing that has actually got product market fit is digital dollars.”
Currently, stablecoins are utilized by hundreds of thousands of users worldwide for trading, remittances, cross-border payments, and other payment applications, regardless of whether they are crypto-native or not.
Bilota stated that individuals from countries with high inflation rates, such as Argentina and Turkey, and regions with high levels of “currency fragmentation,” such as Southeast Asia, were increasingly turning to stablecoins as a more “stable” alternative.
Australia serves optimal “sandbox” for Setting Up Cryptocurrency company
Stables, an Australian stablecoin payments startup, was established in 2021. It enables users to purchase commonplace items with USDC using a digital debit card at any location where Mastercard is accepted.
Stables is supported by Jump Capital, the crypto venture fund, Pocketbook co-founder Alvin Singh, Bosco Tan, and Zip co-founder Larry Diamond.
Stables introduced the ability for users to conduct international remittance payments between the Philippines and Australia in March.
In partnership with Mastercard, Stables implemented euro support in its application on June 25, enabling users to spend USDC in 23 countries across the European Union.
Billato stated that Australia was the optimal “sandbox” for establishing a crypto firm even though crypto regulation is not as well-defined as it is in the European Union, which is preparing to implement its comprehensive crypto framework, MiCA, in December.
“Australia’s regulatory framework for financial services is among the most stringent in the world.” Therefore, the fact that we operate within such a rigorous framework facilitates the exportation of our models to other jurisdictions,” he stated.
Some of the larger crypto businesses, such as the Australian branches of exchanges Kraken and Coinbase, have previously expressed apprehension regarding the country’s regulatory uncertainty, citing the absence of defined frameworks for the operation of crypto firms and exchanges.
Bilotta stated that he shared a few of these concerns, citing that his company was already fully compliant with all of the necessary domestic regulations and did not require users to take on risk in the same manner as crypto exchanges.
He additionally stated that the Australian government would only require a few minor modifications, the most urgent of which was resolving banking issues with crypto companies, to establish itself as a “crypto hub.”
“[Australia] has the potential to become an extremely advantageous location for establishing cryptocurrency businesses.” “We have already established Synthetix, Infinex, Immutable, and THORChain,” Bilotta stated, citing several significant crypto firms that originated in Australia.
“Australia has already produced significant crypto innovation,” he continued.
He observed that local financial institutions were debunking the greatest danger for crypto companies in Australia.
In May 2023, Binance announced the suspension of Australian dollar fiat services in the country due to a decision from Cuscal, its third-party payment service provider. This decision struck a significant strike on the Australian crypto industry.
Furthermore, in the past 18 months, numerous major Australian institutions, including the “Big Four,” have implemented restrictions on the use of cryptocurrency for both commercial and retail purposes.