Xfers introduces stablecoin backed by Singaporean dollar

The XSGD is the world’s first FATF travel rule compliant stablecoin

Xfers, a payments company based in Singapore, has formally announced the release of its XSGD stablecoin. The value of XSGD is pegged to the Singapore dollar (SGD). This would be one of the first tokens that has its value tied to the SGD, and paves the way for businesses and individuals based in the country to transact with a cryptocurrency that is backed by their national currency.

The XSGD is launched on the Zilliqa and Ethereum blockchains and is a part of Xfers’ StraisX initiative.

Aymeric Salley, the head of StraitsX, said that the stablecoin is FATF travel rule-compliant, an initiative involving the PSN01 guidelines set by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. These regulations primarily deal with identification requirements for users, who can only acquire or redeem the stablecoin on the Xfers platform after they have completed the full verification process.

The platform itself is also required to undergo regular risk assessment and transaction monitoring, in line with many existing anti money laundering frameworks that have been implemented around the world.

Salley notes that the regulations in Singapore do not make a distinction between the different forms of e-money, which implies that crypto businesses are capable of operating in the country as long as they can show that they remain compliant with the guidelines.

Salley added that the XSGD token itself can freely be withdrawn and used in transactions with non-custodial wallets.

Sharon Paul, the Head of Payments at Xfers, revealed that the XSGD was a natural progression in the company’s goal to provide increased financial access.

“Payments are more often than not, the first step in enabling financial access. With this in mind, and observing the rise in tokenized assets, it was a natural progress for our team to include Stablecoins into our suite of payment options,”  she explained.

“It is with great joy to offer XSGD as an interoperable and hence seamless settlement option for the digital assets and capital markets industries.”

While the XSGD token is currently available on Zilswap, a decentralised exchange based on Zilliqa, the Xfers team is working on allowing the coin to be used across the DeFi ecosystem as well.

Salley pointed out that the stablecoin space is currently being dominated by the US Dollar, and part of Xfers’ vision is to have other currencies receive the representation they need.

“We have seen the adoption of stablecoins rise quickly over the years, however, 98% of the market is dominated by USD-denominated stablecoins — we believe that now is the time for stablecoins pegged to other national currencies such as the Singapore Dollar to emerge.”