Last April, BTG Pactual, one of South Amerca’s largest investment banks, launched its BTG Dol dollar stablecoin. Today the Crypto.com exchange announced that it plans to list the stablecoin. It will also offer the stablecoin as part of trading pairs for cryptocurrencies such as BTC and ETH. The stablecoin currently has a market capitalization of $4.5 million.
Until now the BTG Dol stablecoin has not been freely transferrable. At launch, the bank made the stablecoin available on its crypto platform, and positioned it as a dollar investment rather than a tool with which to make payments or transact. Hence, it is currently far more centralized than most stablecoins, with all transactions only touching two omnibus wallets centrally controlled by BTG Pactual. As a result, the transaction log on the Polygon blockchain only shows mints and burns once a day, not transfers.
That’s in part because it’s far easier to control anti money laundering (AML) that way in the first instance. Bank level AML and compliance is generally a different level compared to the crypto sector, so Crypto.com likely had to jump through some hoops.
To clarify, BTG Dol is a stablecoin rather than a deposit token. In other words, it has segregated assets as reserves. It is not like a tokenized bank deposit.
“BTG Pactual has consistently been at the forefront of integrating crypto technology into the traditional financial markets, demonstrating our commitment to innovation and excellence,” said Andre Portilho, Partner and Head of the Digital Assets Unit of BTG. “This announcement represents another step on this journey, providing our clients with unparalleled access to the evolving digital asset landscape.”
Meanwhile, in December Societe Generale FORGE listed its EURCV stablecoin on the Bitstamp cryptocurrency exchange. EURCV is also a true stablecoin backed by ring-fenced assets.
