Ubyx, a startup founded by ex-Citigroup executive Tony McLaughlin, has raised $10 million to build a global stablecoin clearing system aiming to facilitate the sector’s adoption.
The seed round was led by Galaxy Ventures, with backing from Coinbase Ventures, Founders Fund, Paxos, VanEck, and others, according to a press release.
The London-based company is looking to solve a long-standing problem in the stablecoin market: fragmentation. Right now, it says, every issuer has to build its own off-ramp infrastructure, an expensive and inefficient process.
Ubyx proposes a common clearing system that would allow stablecoins from multiple issuers to be redeemed at face value into bank or fintech accounts. Removing the need for each issuer to build out their own distribution network, Ubyx says, would help solve market fragmentation.
Just as a small bank can issue a Visa card without building a merchant network, Ubyx wants any bank to be able to accept and redeem any compliant stablecoin.
That could help stablecoins meet accounting standards for being treated as cash equivalents, a crucial hurdle for institutional adoption.
“Ubyx enables a pluralistic market structure with multiple issuers, multiple blockchains, and multiple currencies in a global, interoperable network,” the firm’s founder and CEO, McLaughlin, said.
Issuers already signed on include Ripple, Paxos, Transfero, and Monerium.
The system will support redemption through regulated financial institutions with compliance checks like anti-money laundering and know your customer. The project is set to go live later this year and support over a dozen blockchains, including Solana, Arbitrum, and the XRP Ledger.
The funding round comes as stablecoins are set to evolve into the “money rail of the internet,” according to Bernstein, as a key piece of U.S. stablecoin legislation is being passed.
Several commerce giants, including Walmart and Amazon, are reportedly already considering issuing their own stablecoins. Most major banks in the U.S. are also weighing the launch of a joint stablecoin, in a bid to fend off competition from the crypto space.
