ANZ now has the credit for minting Australia’s first digital asset linked to the local currency, a stablecoin A$DC. The bank has minted 30 million of A$DC using an ANZ-built Ethereum Virtual Machine. This is a compatible smart contract deployed through the Fireblocks platform.
ANZ established a historic transaction. The Australian bank used the stablecoin A$DC in a real-world transaction and concluded a landmark stablecoin payment. The stablecoins were transferred between the Victor Smorgon Group (VMG) and Zerocap. It was later converted back into fiat currency. According to the official statement, VMG wanted to inject A$30 million into Zerocap’s digital asset fund. The investment company turned to ANZ to streamline the process and reduce costs.
The stablecoin helped VMG avoid the costly conversion of Australian dollars into US dollars. Zerocap uses USDC to access cryptocurrency markets. By using A$DC, the investment company bought the digital assets directly. And the transaction took just over 10 minutes. It would have taken several days to achieve this with the use of a legacy financial system.
Nigel Dobson, ANZ services lead, said the ANZ-issued Australian dollar stablecoin is the first and most important step to help customers find a safe and secure gateway to the digital economy. The bank will continue trialing its capability and explore how it can be applied in other industries and customers. Dobson described stablecoins as a new way for customers to transact. ANZ’s historic stablecoin transaction was an efficient and direct way for VMG to access Zerocap’s digital asset exchange. It moved funds across a decentralized network.
Ryan McCall, co-founder of Zerocap, highlighted that most of the crypto industry has been focused on directly servicing the retail market. But Zerocap has invested from the outset to properly service private and institutional clients. McCall said digital assets are going mainstream and Zerocap is thrilled to be at the forefront of driving its adoption.
