Elliptic, the crypto-asset risk management and blockchain analytics platform, announced today that the Singapore dollar-backed stablecoin, XSGD, has been added to its crypto-risk monitoring solutions to assure compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) regulations.
This announcement comes following the public release of StraitsX – the first Travel Rule-compliant stablecoin, backed 1:1 by the SGD.
On a mission to accelerate financial access to Southeast Asia, the XSGD token is built on both Ethereum’s protocol as an ERC-20 token and Zilliqa’s protocol as a ZRC-2 token to fill financial gaps.
So far, Tether remains the most dominant in the space of stablecoins, backed by the USD, which remains the world’s leading reserve currency. However, with Singapore being one of the most prominent and crypto-friendly countries in Southeast Asia, it was only a matter of time before an SGD-backed stablecoin came into existence and it may lead the way for other non-USD-backed fiat currencies as well.
According to Aymeric Salley, Head of StraitsX at Xfers,
“This marks a major milestone for us in our vision to create the trusted and open financial system in Southeast Asia.”
He added,
“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”
Singapore has also embraced financial innovation with the Payment Services Act of January 2020, under which, even crypto-firms can apply for a license to operate as a payment service provider.
“XSGD provides an entryway for local consumers looking to explore the benefits of digital assets with much-needed regulatory-standard assurances that Elliptic’s transaction and risk monitoring solutions can support.”
Backed by Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, SBI Group, and Santander Innoventures, Elliptic’s support of this coin will surely help its legitimacy and thereby, adoption in this space.
Of late, blockchain analytics firms have started to include transaction alerts that can help cryptocurrency businesses and financial institutions keep track of, investigate, and take action against risky transfers. Last year, Chainalysis had launched a real-time anti-money laundering (AML) compliance solution for monitoring cryptocurrency transactions and Chainalysis’ Know Your Transaction (KYT) tool.
Elliptic, which provides transaction risk monitoring software, is yet another illustration of how the crypto-industry is evolving to include more ‘regulatory compliant’ solutions and cryptocurrencies.
