Last week, Zodia Markets, an indirect subsidiary of Standard Chartered, said it integrated Circle’s EUROC stablecoin into its OTC cryptocurrency brokerage and exchange. It positioned this as creating a Euro-USD stablecoin based foreign exchange (FX) market, given it already supports Circle’s USDC and Tether.
Stepping back, that’s a pretty big deal. It may operate as an independent subsidiary of Standard Chartered, but the bank is amongst the largest correspondent banks in the world. Correspondent banks make money out of the inefficiencies in cross border payments. Which is something stablecoins aim to tackle.
Institutionally-focused Zodia Markets is UK based, although it also operates in Ireland and the UAE. Two of its jurisdictions – the UK and EU – are both clarifying the status of stablecoins. In the case of the EU, there’s MiCA. And the UK recently published a consultation around specific regulatory proposals.
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