Agant Joins Stablecoin Standard as First 'Pending Issuer' in New Membership Cohort, Pledging Compliance with Industry Best Practices
LONDON – October 22, 2024 – GBP stablecoin issuer, Agant, today announced that it has formed a strategic partnership with Stablecoin Standard, the industry body for stablecoin issuers globally, as the first in a new cohort of 'Pending Issuers.’ This newly created category of membership is to cater for stablecoin issuers who are yet to go live but that demonstrate a desire to follow the recently released 'Stablecoin Standards' and industry best practices. These standards function as a 'minimum industry framework' which is set by the body's policy working group and agreed upon by the wider membership.
Andrew MacKenzie, Founder at Agant, commented on the partnership, “We have been following the work of Stablecoin Standard for a while now, and connected at their flagship event in Singapore. Agant is a GBP stablecoin working closely with UK policymakers and regulators, and we believe an industry led international standards framework would improve regulatory interoperability and allow for seamless cross border transactions and FX markets on chain.”
Agant was founded in January 2024 by Andrew MacKenzie and is building a pound sterling stablecoin (GBPA), issued and regulated in the UK, designed to serve as a foundational layer for on-chain financial services domestically and internationally. Fully backed 1:1 by cash and UK government bonds, GBPA leverages open banking integration to deliver seamless on-and-off ramp solutions for its users. A partnership with Stablecoin Standard enables Agant to participate in the conversation around global industry best practices and regulatory interoperability. Furthermore, becoming a Stablecoin Standard Pending Member will expedite Agant’s time to market through specially negotiated partnerships with all four corners of the stablecoin ecosystem, from other issuers, chains, exchanges & custodians.
Christian Walker, Chairman & Co-Founder of Stablecoin Standard, commented on Agant partnering with Stablecoin Standard, “At Stablecoin Standard, we understand that stablecoin issuers that express a desire to follow an industry led international framework should be allowed to, hence why we created the new 'Pending Member' category (previously membership was only open to stablecoins live on mainnet). We were impressed with Agant's approach and engagement so far with UK regulators, and are excited to support them on their journey.”
Stablecoin Standard recently announced its international stablecoin standards framework at their flagship event at Token2049 in Singapore. These standards include guidance on operational resilience, transparency & conduct, and product commitments, and have received early support from the likes of Solana, Bitstamp & JST Digital, alongside their issuer members.
"The next step in 2025, alongside developing more industry proof of concepts, is to develop our standards into the 'StableCheck' quality badge scheme, with a view to boosting consumer confidence in the stablecoin industry" added Christian Walker.
About Agant
At Agant, we want to launch a sterling-backed stablecoin, GBPA, in the UK. We want GBPA to be accessible to everyone, and to be used in a wide range of use cases, including digital asset trading and settlement, on-chain FX, retail applications and peer-to-peer transactions. GBPA’s backing assets will include a combination of cash and approved high-quality liquid assets in line with regulatory requirements and industry best practices. We take a compliance first approach and so are working closely with the UK regulators to ensure that GBPA is fully compliant ahead of launch.
You can follow Agant on LinkedIn and X. To learn more, please visit: https://www.agant.io/
About Stablecoin Standard
Stablecoin Standard the industry body for stablecoin issuers globally, focused on real world applications for stablecoins. We share international best practices, business development use cases, industry led working groups, define what a high-quality liquid stablecoin should look like, and engage with policymakers domestically & internationally.
You can follow the Stablecoin Standard on LinkedIn and X and to learn more, please visit: https://stablecoinstandard.com/