Major United States-based stablecoin project Basis will shut down operations and return most of its funds to investors, crypto news outlet The Block reports today, Dec. 12. Citing “multiple people with direct knowledge of the situation,” the reports states that the algorithmic stablecoin project is set to return the majority of the $133 million in funding it raised in a private placement in April. Basis’ investors include major names in venture capital, among them Bain Capital Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. The Block reports that the firm plans to communicate directly on the reported shutdown later Wednesday evening, again citing a …

Another major crypto exchange Huobi has announced the listing of four stablecoins at once, according to an official statement Tuesday, October 16. Starting Friday, Oct. 19, the fifth largest crypto exchange by trading volume will start accepting deposits of four USD-backed stablecoins – Paxos Standard (PAX), TrueUSD (TUSD), USDCoin (USDC), and Gemini Dollar (GUSD). The Huobi Global team noted that the stablecoins are already available on Huobi Wallet, while the launch time and other details are set to be announced at a later time. Huobi also stated that they will release detailed plans for over-the-counter (OTC) trading of the stablecoins …

U.S.-based cryptocurrency payment processor BitPay has started accepting stablecoins, according to an announcement published Oct. 15. The company now allows its merchants to receive settlements in Gemini Dollars (GUSD) and Circle USD Coin (USDC). Founded in 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia, BitPay provides payment services with Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) with a customer base of 20,000 businesses globally. GUSD and USDC are Ethereum (ETH) blockchain-based stablecoins issued by regulated crypto exchanges Gemini and Circle. The value of each of these coins is tied to the value of the U.S. dollar at a 1:1 ratio, which purportedly reduces the risk …

The third top crypto exchange by market cap, OKEx, has recently announced the listings of four stablecoins at once, according to an official blog post published on Monday, Oct. 15. OKEx has added support for four stablecoins, including TrueUSD (TUSD), USD Coin (USDC), Gemini Dollar (GUSD), and Paxos Standard Token (PAX). According to the schedule mentioned in the statement, the stablecoins have become available for deposits today, at 5:00 p.m. on Hong Kong Time (HKG), with a number of crypto trading pairs. Withdrawal will be available starting tomorrow, Oct.16. TrueUSD is the second stablecoin that has been introduced following the …

As Cointelegraph reported on Sept. 10, with the approval of the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), Paxos and Gemini officially announced the introduction of two stablecoins called the “Gemini dollar (GUSD)” and the “Paxos Standard (PAX).” Both stablecoins are backed by the U.S. dollar on a 1:1 basis, with every unit of GUSD and PAX representing the value of one U.S. dollar. Experts believe that the emergence of fully audited, legitimate and licensed stablecoins will have a profound impact on the crypto market, especially in the long-term, as it provides investors a way to retain value without being …

Cryptocurrency exchange and wallet service Bittrex has announced plans to launch U.S. dollar (USD) trading pairs for two new cryptocurrencies, according to an official announcement published August 8. Per the announcement, Bittrex is looking to expand its fiat markets to Ethereum Classic (ETC) and Ripple (XRP) on August 20. The new trading pairs will be added to already listed dollar markets for Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), and TrueUSD (TUSD). The company says that it will continue gradually adding tokens to its USD markets, using a “phased approach” for USD trading. Bittrex further explained that it takes a gradual …

On July 17, IBM announced its involvement in a U.S. dollar-pegged stable coin project dubbed Stronghold. While the IT titan isn’t new to the world of crypto, stable coins have been attracting more mainstream players lately, and big league investments — from the likes of Andreessen Horowitz and Peter Thiel — have started pouring in. Here are the largest advancement made in this field in the past months, along with the reasons why it might have attracted such major investors. What are stable coins and why do we need them? Cointelegraph has previously covered the concept of stablecoins in depth. …

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision. In a 2013 paper published by David Yernack, the professor of finance at New York University stated that, for any currency to be useful to society, it should be able to function as a medium of exchange, a store of value and a unit of account. At the time, he was using these …