A MetaMask stablecoin could debut as early as Thursday, a source knowledgeable of the initiative confirmed to Decrypt.
The Ethereum wallet provider, which will team up with payment services provider Stripe, will introduce the mmUSD stablecoin as the main trading pair for its various services, according to an Aave governance proposal that appeared last week but was subsequently deleted. DLNews first reported on the deleted proposal. Stablecoin platform M^0 is reportedly supporting the effort.
MetaMask‘s mmUSD comes as interest in stablecoins soars, the result of a more favorable U.S. regulatory environment, the tokens‘ growing acknowledgement by traditional finance firms and the dramatically successful public offering by stablecoin issuer Circle, which rose nearly 675 in its first two weeks of trading. (Circle has lost a good portion of those gains but is still nearly 400 above its IPO price.)
Last month, Congress passed the GENIUS Act, which provides regulatory guidance for the tokens that are generally pegged to the value of the U.S. dollar.
Multiple companies in recent months have announced stablecoin projects or said that they were exploring them, including banking giants JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America, and brokerage Robinhood.
The stablecoin market currently holds a $280 billion market cap, although U.K. bank Standard Chartered has predicted that total could reach $750 billion by the end of 2026.
Ethereum software developer Consensys, which counts MetaMask among its projects, told Decrypt in an email that "it had no comment at this time" on the potential stablecoin, including the timing of an announcement. Decrypt also reached out to Stripe, individuals linked to MetaMask and Aave, and to M^0.
(Disclosure: Consensys is one of 22 investors in an editorially independent Decrypt.)
Last year, payments giant Stripe acquired stablecoin platform Bridge for a reported $1.1 billion. Bridge‘s software platform allows businesses to accept stablecoins as payments, and has said that it one day hopes to rival global payments networks such as Swift, Mastercard, and Visa.
"Stripe is going to build the world’s best stablecoin infrastructure, and, to that end, we are delighted to welcome [Bridge] to Stripe," Stripe CEO Patrick Collison said at the time of the acquisition.
A recent collaboration between MetaMask and Aave will permit wallet users to generate yield from Aave decentralized liquidity protocols via the MetaMask mobile app. Users will be able to access USDC, USDT and DAI yields, Aave said in a blog post. "The integration makes DeFi earnings simpler and more accessible to everyday users," the post said, adding that "his represents MetaMask Earn‘s first step into DeFi lending, expanding beyond existing staking options."
MetaMask has 100 million users, according to its website. Aave totals over $55 billion in net deposits.
On Myriad, a prediction market developed by Decrypt‘s parent company Dastan, 52 of respondents believe that the Ethereum stablecoin market cap will exceed $145 billion in August.
Additional reporting by Stacy Jones.
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