(Bloomberg) -- Tether Holdings Ltd. is among the backers of a new European stablecoin, investing at a time when the issuer may be forced to exit the bloc under new rules.
Quantoz Payments, a Dutch blockchain business authorized by the Netherlands’ central bank as an e-money issuer, will launch a pair of tokens tied to the euro and the dollar on Monday, its Chief Executive Officer Arnoud Star Busmann said in an interview.
Previously funded privately by its founders, Tether, crypto exchange Kraken and Fabric Ventures have all invested undisclosed amounts in the business as part of the launch, Quantoz said. None of the new investors owns more than a small minority shareholding in the company, Star Busmann said.
Tether’s USDT stablecoin, the market’s largest with a circulation of over $127 billion, is set to be delisted from European exchanges at the end of the year as platforms seek to comply with the bloc’s new Markets in Cryptoassets regulation. Stablecoin issuers must hold an e-money license in at least one member state in order to market their token in the EU.
The two tokens, EURQ and USDQ, are designed to be used in secondary markets for activities like crypto trading, Star Busmann said, with listings planned on Kraken, and Tether’s sister exchange Bitfinex. Quantoz partnered with Tether and Kraken in an effort to make its stablecoins more popular, launching as companies including Robinhood Markets Inc., Société Générale SA and Ripple Labs Inc. explore their own tokens.
“There’s no point in taking a stablecoin to market at the bottom ranks of an exchange and to be delisted after a couple months,” said Star Busmann.
The company utilized Tether’s newly-launched tokenization platform Hadron to support its new stablecoins, he added. Quantoz previously launched EURD, a stablecoin designed to be used for real-life payments.
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