London Block Exchange, a multi-cryptocurrency exchange dedicated to the UK market, today revealed that the first-ever digital pound sterling, generated on November 12th, was achieved through its partnership with AlphaPoint, the customizable distributed ledger, and digital asset platform.
GBP-Peg (GBPP) is a stablecoin that is pegged to the value of pound sterling (GBP) and is the first digital pound sterling ever mined and minted.
“AlphaPoint believes that digital assets and blockchain technology are going to fuel the creation of new wealth and LBX is a perfect example of how organizations are leveraging AlphaPoint’s transformative technology to help democratize access to the cryptocurrency markets and create new liquidity opportunities,” said Salil Donde, AlphaPoint Chief Executive Officer. “By digitizing the pound, firms can now accept GBPP for purchases without needing to move into and out of fiat.”
LBX has a segregated, onshore, and auditable UK bank account dedicated to GBPP. All GBP held in this account is represented by an equivalent number of GBPP tokens on the blockchain. GBPP and a future suite of stablecoins based on additional fiat currencies such as the Euro and the U.S. Dollar, will also leverage AlphaPoint’s asset digitization technology. LBX opened in November 2017 for OTC trades and, in addition to UK banking and a user-friendly app backed by world-class London-based customer service, it also follows rigorous KYC and AML protocols.
“GBPP will help boost mainstream usage of other cryptocurrencies by allowing investors to realize the technological benefits of instantaneous transactions, decreased volatility, and increased liquidity,” said Benjamin Dives, London Block Exchange CEO. “We are excited to partner with AlphaPoint, a globally trusted brand with technology that will help us deploy and maintain a robust network in a trusted and compliant manner.”
The digitization of GBPP will benefit businesses, traders, and consumers as it will enhance the seamless transfer of money across borders — making the transfer of money traceable, trustworthy, and frictionless; create a greater number of trading pairs, and open up more liquidity opportunities.
Details
- The first ever GBPP was minted on November 12, 2018, at 11:00 AM GMT via LBX
- GBPP is the first blockchain-based, fully collateralized and regularly audited token tied to the value of pound sterling and held in a segregated UK bank account on a 1:1 basis
- GBPP is an ERC-621 token — building upon the ERC-20 standard — and will grant the required flexibility in the total supply to match the quantity of GBP held in the segregated bank account
- GBPP will also be issued on other blockchains where compliance controls can be maintained
- A wide range of use cases include payments to merchants and a smart contract-based distribution of dividends for a company’s shareholders
