Cryptocurrency data aggregator and wallet provider Blockchain.info will launch trading of its fifth coin, paxos standard token (PAX), on Monday, the company told industry news outlet CoinDesk on May 31.
Paxos is a United States dollar-pegged stablecoin, and its addition will be a first for Blockchain.info in the stablecoin space.
Blockchain currently supports four cryptocurrencies: bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH) and stellar (XLM), having removed its limited bitcoin SV (BSV) options earlier this month.
The company had hinted about the move for some time, surveying users about their relationship with stablecoins and releasing publicity material. At the start of May, executives confirmed a formal partnership with Paxos.
Last week, a dedicated blog post confirmed PAX was live for Blockchain.info’s 37 million wallets.
“Launched in September 2018, Paxos Standard tokens are fully backed by physical U.S. dollars stored in FDIC-insured banks and regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services,” the staff wrote in an apparent explanation of their choice of stablecoin asset. The post continued:
“This financial certainty eliminates price volatility and gives users around the world an entirely new way to send value, manage inflation, mitigate trading risk, and gain exposure to the US dollar.”
Speaking to CoinDesk, Xen Baynham-Herd, head of Blockchain.info’s wallet department and strategy, said that ultimately the company wanted to add fiat currency functionality to the wallet.
“Doing the stablecoin project here with PAX is a really big deal because it’s not just that we are adding a new asset, it’s adding a true dollar balance into the wallet,” he explained.
The comments mark a contrast in ideology between wallet providers, some of which conversely aim to remain free of fiat-based operations. Last autumn, Samourai even took the step of removing USD balances from its wallet altogether, arguing bitcoin users should learn to transact entirely in cryptocurrency.