Coinsquare, one of Canada’s biggest digital currency exchanges, is launching a new CAD-backed stablecoin, eCAD™, which is designed to hold its value with the Canadian dollar and is being pitched for consumer and business use.
The crypto exchange says it will hold fiat collaterals in escrow, meaning they have a license to receive the funds, equal in amount to the number of circulating tokens.
In a statement, Coinsquare states that the launch of eCAD coins will help the crypto venue offer cross-border Payments and remittance, P2P lending, merchant solutions, trade settlements, and FX conversions.
The Toronto-based exchange claims $5 billion per year of cryptocurrency trades and over 100,000 customers.
The news comes as competition among stablecoins heats up, with several new Euro, British pound, and US dollar-pegged tokens launching this year.
With all the controversy and mistrust surrounding Tether (USDT), it’s no surprise that a multitude of new alternatives has popped up recently. Last week, CEO of popular exchange OKEx said his company is backing a new cryptocurrency that could be pegged to the US dollar, in a partnership with SEC-regulated custodian Prime Trust.
Coinsquare is making inroads into Asia
Earlier last year, Coinsquare purchased BlockEQ, a private Stellar wallet that also serves as a decentralized network for cryptocurrency P2P payments and trading. This acquisition was the first instance in which Coinsquare, aka Canada’s Coinbase, has bought out a smaller company in the Blockchain space.
The trading venue is also making inroads into Asia as it plans to open a new cryptocurrency exchange in Japan.
Commenting on the news Cole Diamond, CEO of Coinsquare, said: “We are thrilled to announce the first step of our plan to bring stability and opportunity to the Canadian cryptocurrency market. The launch of eCAD™ will create the first transparent, affordable, and secure way of transferring value in Canada and beyond, without the risk of instability in the traditional cryptocurrency market.”
