Robinhood, the popular fintech company, is reportedly considering launching its own stablecoin, according to Bloomberg. If successful, this move would place Robinhood among other traditional finance firms entering the stablecoin market, such as PayPal, which introduced its U.S. dollar-backed token last summer.
Despite this speculation, Robinhood’s official representative stated that, as of now, there are no definite plans to release a stablecoin. Robinhood already offers trading in multiple cryptocurrencies, and USD Coin, or USDC, is a stablecoin based in Circle.
EU Regulations Could Impact Tether’s Position in Crypto Market
Currently, both Robinhood and another firm, Revolut, are considering the possibility of developing their own stablecoins. Many think that new measures in Europe and beyond could open up a prospect to address Tether Holdings, the market leader in stablecoins. Currently, Tether’s USDT occupies a large share of the market, with more than two-thirds of the nearly $170 billion digital assets sector.
However, insiders know that the future of this idea is undecided, and they might not even go through with the plans as Robinhood and Revolut are currently studying it. Newcomers have recently attempted to enter a similar industry as Tether, but none have been successful so far. Today, Tether itself has over $120 billion of ‘stability’ in circulation in the form of USDT, whereas its competitor USDC has $36 billion.
Tether could face challenges since the European Union plans to enact extensive crypto regulations by the end of this year. New regulations coming into force might bar the European crypto exchange from listing assets from stablecoin issuers who failed to secure licenses. Circle, which issues USDC, has already secured the necessary EU license and is moving forward with plans for an initial public offering.
To these emerging regulations, Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino has raised eyebrows over the safety of large-scale redemption processes. Currently, the company is in the process of developing a new technology-based approach that will help in providing improved solutions to meet the needs of the market in the EU region.
