Bitvo crypto exchange launches ‘first Canadian dollar-backed stablecoin’

Welcome to the stablecoin hype, Canada.

Canadian crypto exchange Bitvo announced earlier this week that it has launched the first ever “Canadian dollar-backed stablecoin.”

Dubbed QCAD, the stablecoin was developed by Canada Stablecorp, a joint venture between crypto asset manager 3iQ, and blockchain developer Mavennet Systems. Bitvo said the stablecoin was built on the Ethereum blockchain under the ERC-20 standard. 

“Bitvo is excited to be a part of the team bringing QCAD to digital asset traders, both retail and institutional. With the launch of QCAD, the Stablecorp team is filling a gap in the market that Bitvo customers have been searching for and requesting for some time,” Bitvo CEO Pamela Draper said in a press release. 

Canadians will be able to “buy, sell and trade” QCAD on their exchange like any other cryptocurrency, according to Bitvo. Stablecoins are designed to avoid the volatility of other cryptocurrencies by having their value pegged to fiat currencies that are more stable. 

Canada Stablecorp hopes QCAD will help drive the adoption and trust of stablecoins for the Canadian mass market. The idea is to help facilitate the “digitization of capital markets” by contributing to the market infrastructure in Canada, according to Stablecorp CEO Jean Desgange.

QCAD, however, will likely face competition from other stablecoins developed in Canada that are on the horizon. Last April, Coinsquare announced a “pre-launch” of eCAD, a stablecoin it also said would be pegged to the Canadian dollar. And in November last year, Blockchain Venture Capital Inc (BVCI) said it had developed two stablecoins pegged to the US and Canadian dollars. 

The Bank of Canada signaled last year it was exploring its own digital currency.