BCP Technologies, a cryptocurrency company registered in the UK, is claiming bragging rights for issuing the first stablecoin denominated in British pound sterling, Tokenised GBP (tGBP), under the UK’s regulatory ambit.
The launch of tGBP follows a 14 month review including one month participation in the FCA regulatory Sandbox, which concluded on 31 May, the company said on Tuesday.
Stablecoins, with around $250 billion in collective market cap, are one of the fastest growing areas within crypto. But the vast majority of these tokens are pegged to USD, in a market currently dominated by Tether’s USDT, the largest, and Circle’s USDC, the second biggest.
Each tGBP token is backed 1:1 by reserves held in a segregated account at a UK-regulated financial institution and is fully redeemable for sterling at any time, according to a press release.
“Our vision is to abstract the complexity of blockchain with the familiarity of a GBP denomination, ultimately replacing GBP e-money with our GBP stablecoin,” said Benoit Marzouk, CEO of BCP Technologies in a statement.
This arrival of tGPB comes as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority opens a public consultation on stablecoin and crypto custody rules on the 28th of May.