Quantoz Payments B.V. (Quantoz), the Netherlands headquartered payments technology company, is pleased to announce that it will start issuing two stablecoins EURQ and USDQ, designed to be MiCAR Compliant, on Monday 18th November.
EURQ and USDQ are respectively euro and US dollar-referenced E-Money Tokens (EMTs), issued on the Ethereum blockchain by Quantoz, an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) authorised and supervised by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), the Dutch Central Bank.
The new EMTs will facilitate euro and US dollar transfers and payments in secondary markets as well as transfers across digital asset and crypto exchanges. Fiat-referencing stablecoins on blockchains can enable digital and decentralised payments that are faster, more transparent, secure and cheaper when compared to existing payment infrastructure.
Bitfinex and Kraken, two of the world’s longest standing and most secure crypto-asset exchanges, plan to be the first to list EURQ and USDQ for trading to eligible clients on Thursday 21st November.
Arnoud Star Busmann, CEO of Quantoz Payments, said:
“We are thrilled to bring to market truly European-native stablecoins, available on respected venues for European consumers and corporations, issued by a company with its roots in the Netherlands, one of Europe’s leading fintech jurisdictions. The MiCA regulation brings a new level of trust to digital assets markets, not least through its prudential requirements on the issuers of stablecoins. As the world of payments becomes more digital, having well-regulated, transparent and fully backed stablecoins is critical to enabling faster, cheaper and more secure settlement within the world’s largest single market.”
A group of investors including Fabric Ventures, Kraken and Tether are underlining their support for Quantoz by investing in the company.
Anil Hansjee, General Partner at Fabric Ventures, said:
“Europeans speak loudly about MICAR making stablecoin issuance seamless in Europe and whilst there are clearer rules, there are very few players that can pull it off at scale. Think regulatory licenses, tier 1 banking partners with adequate liquidity ratios and balance sheets, blockchain expertise, state of the art and scalable compliance onboarding, on chain transaction monitoring, treasury and risk management, security DNA, let alone an ability to convince major European exchanges to list you and market makers to provide liquidity, as well as dApps to build use cases around you. Quantoz Payments have achieved all this and brought all the right components to the table to succeed. Fabric Ventures are delighted to be participating in this partnership and in an investment thesis that sits firmly at the intersection of our expertise in payments and crypto.”
Mark Greenberg, VP of Product & GM of Consumer at Kraken, said:
“Stablecoins are the backbone of crypto, reshaping the way people connect traditional finance with the decentralized world. We’re pumped to join this investment round and team up with industry partners to push the mission of crypto adoption forward.”
Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether said:
“Our support for Quantoz highlights Tether’s commitment to fostering innovative and regulated solutions within the digital asset landscape. By supporting Quantoz and bringing technology solutions like Hadron by Tether, we reinforce our dedication to expanding reliable, compliant financial tools that empower users and build trust across the digital ecosystem.”
Arnoud Star Busmann, CEO at Quantoz Payments, added:
“Quantoz is an established digital payments technology company in the heart of the European Union and started issuing EURD earlier this year, another euro-backed stablecoin focused on e-money solutions for consumer payment ecosystems as well as treasury management for corporates.
“The support through this investment round from some of the best businesses in digital assets will enable us to provide a timely solution for digital asset markets as well as unlock the benefits of blockchain based money for more traditional use cases. We are excited to be partnering with them on this journey.”
The amount of EURQ and USDQ in circulation is fully backed 1-to-1 by fiat reserves and highly liquid financial instruments such as government bonds. These reserves are managed by an independent foundation, subject to strict DNB oversight and are placed in segregated accounts with Tier 1 banks. In addition to the requirement of maintaining 100% reserves to fully back all circulating assets, Quantoz is also required to hold an additional 2% on its own balance sheet as part of its obligations under MiCAR.
