SG Forge, the cryptocurrency division of French bank Société Générale, plans to introduce a dollar-backed stablecoin on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains, the bank said on Tuesday.
The USD CoinVertible (USDCV) will start trading in early July and involves Bank of New York Mellon acting as reserve custodian for the token.
As crypto rules coalesce around the globe, pressure is mounting on banks to take part in the integration of fiat-pegged stablecoins into mainstream finance (TradFi). SocGen, something of a stablecoin pioneer with its euro-backed EURCV token, says it is the first global banking group to issue a public stablecoin tied to the U.S. dollar.
The involvement of BNY Mellon enables seamless integration between traditional and digital financial ecosystems, SG Forge said in a press release.
“After the release of a MiCA-compliant EUR stablecoin (EURCV), the launch of a U.S. dollar version was the obvious next step for Societe Generale–FORGE as market adoption of stablecoins is growing exponentially,” SG Forge CEO Jean-Marc Stenger said in the statement, referring to the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets regulations.
Stablecoins, digital tokens whose value is pegged to a real-world asset, are used extensively for crypto trading and other applications. The market is dominated by Tether’s USDT, with a market cap of about $155 billion, according to CoinDesk data. USDC, issued by Circle (CRCL), is No. 2 with a market cap of $60 billion.
“The stablecoin market remains largely U.S. dollar denominated. This new currency will enable our clients, either institutions, corporates or retail investors, to leverage the benefits of an institutional-grade stablecoin,” he said in a statement.
USD CoinVertible and EUR CoinVertible are designed to support a wide range of client activities, the bank said, including crypto trading and cross-border payments, on-chain settlement, foreign exchange transactions and collateral and cash management.
Neither USD CoinVertible nor EUR CoinVertible are available to “U.S. Persons,” SG Forge said.