In brief
- The Binance-backed BUSD stablecoin will be added to the Flow blockchain.
- Developers will be able to utilize BUSD within Flow dapps in a permissionless way.
- Flow creator Dapper Labs is the developer of CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot.
For the second time this week, CryptoKitties developer Dapper Labs has announced a partnership between its Flow blockchain and a stablecoin, this time inking a deal with cryptocurrency exchange Binance to bring BUSD to Flow.
On Tuesday, Dapper revealed a partnership with Circle to use USD Coin (USDC) to settle debit and credit card payments for purchases made on Flow. Although just announced this week, that alliance started during the closed beta of officially licensed collectibles game NBA Top Shot, which has already posted up $2 million in revenue since June.
While Dapper Labs is best known as the developer of those aforementioned projects, along with forthcoming Dr. Seuss and Ultimate Fighting Championship blockchain collectibles experiences, this partnership with Binance seems especially designed to aid the expansion of the Flow blockchain.
According to a release, Flow developers will be able to integrate the BUSD stablecoin into decentralized apps in a permissionless manner. BUSD is backed 1:1 by the US dollar. It is one of just a handful of coins to have received regulatory approval from the New York State Department of Financial Services. Flow’s aforementioned USDC support isn’t quite as deep, as that stablecoin still runs on Ethereum and Algorand.
Dapper Labs may be associated with gaming and entertainment, but BUSD integration could make Flow an ideal option for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, as well. The firm’s release calls out such possibilities as derivatives, collateralized loans, and insurance products.
"We believe decentralized entertainment and games will play a leading role in accelerating crypto adoption,” said Binance Chief Compliance Officer Samuel Lim in a release. “Our partnership with Flow and Dapper's track record will bring BUSD into the hands of millions of consumers. We will not stop innovating as we look to build the fintech infrastructure for tomorrow."
According to CoinGecko, BUSD is the fifth-largest stablecoin in terms of market capitalization, at $392.3 million. However, it lags dramatically behind the top stablecoin, Tether’s USDT, which has a market cap of $15 billion (USD Coin is #2 at $2.1 billion).
Expanding to Flow will open up BUSD to additional users, but we’ll see whether it’s enough to help chip away at Tether’s immense lead atop the stablecoin charts.