By: John Liu and Tyler London

The move towards cashless societies is in full swing as people rely increasingly on credit cards, debit cards, and mobile payment solutions. As understanding and acceptance of cryptocurrencies increase, the question naturally becomes — are cryptos the next big ingredient to accelerate the world to cashless societies? Through the innovation and stablecoins, it appears that the answer is “yes”. However, with the rapidly growing number of stablecoins being issued on different chains and siloed adoption in different markets, an “all-coins-in-one” solution made possible by Fusion will be more important than ever to keep the digital revolution on track.

The medium of value exchange, money, has evolved continuously through history to help parties exchange values more efficiently, changing from large stones wheels, to gold, to fiat currencies, and now to cryptographic bits known as cryptocurrencies. While cryptocurrencies introduced value exchange with digital efficiency in a trustless environment, the volatility of these coins made them unsuitable for mainstream financial transactions. Luckily, necessity is the mother of innovation and it wasn’t long before stablecoins were introduced: cryptocurrencies pegged to anything that provides perceived value stability — currencies, commodities, an algorithmic price equilibrium, and more.

Though there are many pegs and designs, the centralized, fiat-backed designs remain the most popular. While they do not solve the problem of inflation — targeted at 2–3% per annum by central banks — they are easiest to relate to in a (currently) fiat-driven world. Thanks to growing recognition from both private and public sectors of the attractiveness of a digital economy, stablecoins are moving quickly from a niche product used to hedge exposures for crypto traders to a practical medium for peer-to-peer and commerce transactions.

An Explosion of Coins

Private organizations have led the way on stablecoin innovation. The grandfather USDT started trading in February 2015, and in 2018 was joined by Paxos Dollar, Gemini Dollar, Stasis Euro, and many others. The momentum of issuance is only increasing in 2019: payments processor Wirex announced issuance of 26 different stablecoins on Stellar; JPMorgan led the institutional finance industry with JPM Coin; social media giant Facebook announced their Libra coin; and Binance, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, will be releasing their own stablecoins in the near future.

Governments are also warming to, and in some countries jumping into the deep-end, with stablecoins. Take for example Marshall Island’s launched SOV as the world’s first legal tender and crypto, or the Liechtenstein Blockchain Act which provides a holistic legal framework for cryptocurrencies. Sweden, recognized globally as the country closest to becoming cashless, is actively investigating issuing e-Krona and France has expressed “great interest” in the development of stablecoins. Meanwhile, central banks continue to investigate the possibilities of central bank digital currencies (CDBC).

However, this vast number of stablecoins is introducing a new hurdle to adoption: the paralyzing fear of choosing the wrong coin. Idiosyncratic risks, such as the investigation by NY prosecutors into Bitifnex and USDT which drove a $10 million “flight for safety” overnight into the regulated and fully audited Paxos Dollar, further complicate this problem. Consumers are struggling with the question: which stablecoin is right for them?

Fusion does not seek to provide an answer to that question. There are too many circumstances, macro and specific to the individual, to consider. What Fusion provides, is something more practical and important: an easy and quick way for consumers to access all stable coins, so that they can switch seamlessly into any coin that best meets their need at the time.

Fusion’s Interoperable Stable Coin Platform

Fusion, an interoperable protocol focused on building the financial fabric, is doing its part to help the stablecoin industry by making the “all-in-one/easy switching” concept a reality. To showcase the possibilities, Fusion brought a small number of stablecoins into the Fusion blockchain: USDT (USD Tether), PAX (Paxos Standard), GUSD (Gemini Dollar), USDC (USD Coin), DAI (DAI Stablecoin), EURS (Eur Stasis), 1SG (Mars Singapore), and RKZ (Rockz Swiss Stablecoin).