MELBOURNE, (ANZ) — ANZ last week announced it has successfully executed the first ever Australian-bank issued Australian dollar stablecoin (A$DC) payment through a public permissionless blockchain transaction.
A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency with a value linked to a commodity, currency or algorithm to manage supply. ANZ minted 30 million of A$DC using an ANZ built Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible smart contract deployed through the Fireblocks platform. These coins were transferred between the parties and later redeemed back into Fiat currency.
ANZ Banking Services Lead Nigel Dobson said: “An ANZ issued Australian dollar stablecoin is a first and important step in enabling our customers to find a safe and secure gateway to the digital economy.
“Stablecoins are a new way for customers to transact and in this case was an efficient and direct way for Victor Smorgon Group to access Zerocap’s digital asset exchange and move funds across a decentralised network.
“We’re excited to continue to trial our capability and explore how this use case can be applied in other industries and customers in the future.”
Victor Smorgon Group CEO Peter Edwards said: “Through the Zerocap platform and continuing our multi-generational working relationship with the ANZ Bank, we are excited to have an Australian dollar stablecoin facilitating innovation and investment.
“The Victor Smorgon Group is a family business, working across multiple asset classes, following a thematic-based approach to asset allocation. Last year we took a strategic shareholding in Zerocap to make investments across the digital assets class.”
Zerocap is a market-leading digital asset investment and technology firm at the intersection of crypto investing and traditional finance, providing products to investors and institutions globally.
Zerocap co-founder and CEO Ryan McCall said: “Truly understanding the needs of institutions like ANZ was critical to Zerocap playing a role in this ground-breaking initiative. This is a collaboration that we’re incredibly proud to be a part of.
“Most of the crypto industry has been focused on directly servicing the retail market, whereas we’ve invested from the outset in establishing the product, technology, compliance and team to properly service private and institutional clients, like the Victor Smorgon Group and ANZ.
“Digital assets are going mainstream; we’re thrilled to be at the forefront of driving adoption and bringing that vision to life.”
ANZ worked closely with leading providers in the digital asset domain including Fireblocks, Chainalysis and OpenZeppelin to create an in-house purpose-built stablecoin smart contract.
Fireblocks CEO Michael Shaulov said: “The financial sector is undergoing rapid transformation and we are enabling institutions with end-to-end technology for plugging into tokenisation, DeFi, staking and crypto trading. By being the first bank to mint a stablecoin, ANZ has established itself as a leader when it comes to innovation and we look forward to welcoming other institutions who are on the same path.”
The smart contract and supporting infrastructure were designed to adhere to industry best practices around secure digital assets custody, smart contract auditing, transaction screening, and market-leading monitoring.
ANZ has a strong track-record adopting blockchain solutions and is a founding partner of Lygon, which uses blockchain technology to streamline bank guarantees.
