Major Canadian investment fund manager 3iQ and blockchain firm Mavennet co-launched a newly regulated stablecoin pegged to the Canadian Dollar (CAD). Developed by Canada Stablecorp, a joint venture between 3iQ and Mavennet, QCAD is the latest CAD-based stablecoin and was officially launched on Feb 11.

QCAD total supply accounts for about 150,000 CAD at the launch

Based on the Ethereum blockchain, QCAD implements popular token standard ERC-20 and is targeting the mass market.

While QCAD is not yet listed on major websites tracking crypto market capitalization, QCAD transactions can be now tracked via Ethereum blockchain explorer Etherscan. According to Etherscan, QCAD is held by 5 addresses with a total supply of 150,350 CAD ($113,000) as of press time.

Following the launch, Canadians can immediately trade QCAD against major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ether, as well as USD coin. USDC is also a USD-pegged stablecoin launched jointly by Coinbase and Circle.

QCAD’s custody provided by BitGo and local crypto custody service Balance

According to the announcement, users can immediately buy QCAD directly via partners like DVex, Newton, Bitvo, Netcoins, and Coinsmart. According to Stablecorp, QCAD is fully supported by crypto custodians such as global cryptoprocessor BitGo and local crypto custody service Balance.

In the future, the company plans to extend QCAD to more networks than Ethereum, the firm said. Stablecorp’s chief operating officer (COO) ROob Durscki wrote in an email that

QCAD, by concept, is chain agnostic. Our main concern is user experience and security, and that’s what led us to start with Ethereum, due to its robust infrastructure and successful past and current projects. Nonetheless we plan on assessing additional networks, always focusing at our clients’ experience.

Canada’s FinTRAC to Start Regulating Stablecoin in June 2020

As some of the Stablecorp’s partners claim that QCAD is the “first fully compliant stablecoin with a 1/1 CAD equivalency,” Durscki emphasized the company’s work with local financial regulators. Durscki said that QCAD is fully compliant based on relevant regulations. Namely, that entails Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and AML policies and security.

Stablecorp’s policies and systems are also designed to be fully compliant with Canada’s major AML agency, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FinTRAC). Durscki, who used to work at big four auditing firm Deloitte, said that the FinTRAC will start regulating Stablecorp under a certain business category in June 2020. He comments

Our policies and systems are designed fully compliant with FinTRAC requirements for Money Service Businesses (MSBs), the category under which our business will start being regulated on June 1st, the date regulation is expected to change in Canada.

Additionally, the COO assured that Stablecorp holds its CAD deposits with an independent custodian that provides periodical statements of CAD balance vs. QCADs in circulation. It will ensure that QCAD is backed by the appropriate amount of Canada’s fiat currency.

While Stablecorp calls QCAD the “first Canadian dollar stablecoin designed for the mass market,” the coin isn’t the first stablecoin pegged to the Canadian dollar. To date, there at least two other CAD-pegged stablecoins, including Coinsquare-based eCAD and TrustToken’s TrueCAD.