Agant, creator of a new GBP stablecoin (GBPA), has selected Archax, the regulated digital asset exchange, broker and custodian, as its partner to handle the custody of its underlying assets.
The British pound digital currency will initially be available on the Ethereum, Avalanche and Solana blockchains.
Agant will also leverage Archax to access tokenised GBP-denominated money market funds for “holding its stablecoin reserves.”
Agant is seizing the opportunity to bring the world’s fourth largest currency on-chain, and to provide a “privately-issued stablecoin – one that complies with all applicable UK laws and regulations – to support the UK’s thriving Fintech and digital assets ecosystem.”
Agant envisages GBPA being used as a means of “value transfer in a wide range of use cases, including digital asset trading and settlement, on-chain FX, retail applications and peer-to-peer transactions.”
On behalf of Agant, Archax would hold tokenised units in abrdn’s GBP money market fund (MMF) to ensure “stability and liquidity in providing underlying collateral for Agant’s stablecoin reserves.”
Agant is working with a range of market participants and innovators to develop its ecosystem.
Andrew MacKenzie, CEO of Agant, commented:
“Agant aspires to be the gold standard for regulatory compliance, not only as a stablecoin issuer but also with respect to the ecosystem of market participants with whom we partner. As a fully regulated custodian and digital assets exchange, Archax was the obvious partner for custody of GBPA’s backing assets and to provide access to yield-bearing money market funds. We are excited to be working with Archax as we continue our journey towards issuing GBPA in the UK.”
Graham Rodford, CEO and Co-Founder of Archax, added:
“A GBP stablecoin is much needed in the UK. Agant’s innovative GBPA, combined with its compliance-first approach, makes this an exciting project for us. We are pleased to be working with Agant on their GBPA initiative and will be supporting the stablecoin within the wider Archax digital asset ecosystem as well.”
Agant is an aspiring GBP sterling stablecoin issuer, based in the UK. Our vision is to provide the “foundation layer for on-chain financial services in the UK and further afield.”
GBPA is a sterling-denominated stablecoin to be “issued by Agant. GBPA will be a digital representation of the pound sterling, fully backed and redeemable 1:1, and aims to be compliant with all applicable UK laws and regulations.”
Archax is the digital securities exchange “regulated by the FCA in London.”
Targeted at institutions, Archax also has its FCA brokerage, custody and crypto permissions.
Archax offers a bridge “between the blockchain world and the existing investment space.”
The Archax team claims it is used to working in regulated markets and has a deep understanding of the blockchain landscape and tokenisation too – as well as a vision of “how to evolve them and open up digital assets to institutions in a transparent manner.”
