A new Initial Public Offering (IPO) of an Australia-based company is now accepting payment in USD Tether, the biggest USD-based digital currency in existence right now. West Coast Aquaculture Group, or WCA that is operating a farm in Malaysia has announced this move in partnership with its fundraising partner Stax. It becomes among the world’s first conventional IPOs to accept USD stablecoins for participation.
Currently, the two options available for investment are USD Tether and Australian Dollar. Previously, the company considered both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) for this funding options but didn’t pursue it because of price stability concerns.
According to Stox CEO Kenny LEE:
The acceptance of USDT in an IPO is a transformative move in Australia and a significant step forward for cryptocurrency adoption in general. It paves the way for the future of capital markets down under.
Stox is the primary partner of the Malaysia-based agricultural setup to help raise vital funds needed for its expansion. Lee also noted that the company may be offering a variety of stablecoin funding options in the near future. WCA will use these funds to help expand its fishery business which sees considerable sales in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia itself.
The total IPO is worth between $5-7 million with 10-14 million shares worth $0.5 each being floated in the market. The IPO will be a success if the amount reaches $5 million. This is historic both for Malaysia and Australia that such a significant sum of money is being raised in an IPO with a digital currency payment option. If the IPO becomes successful, it will prove to a successful use case of digital currencies and strengthen their cause.
Stablecoins are expected to experience increased mainstream usage in the near future as they allow a global digital payment solution without the myriad of problems that conventional systems have for the consumers. They offer a stable alternative to many of the more mainstream crypto alternatives like Bitcoin and Ethereum. While the pro-stablecoin proponents believe that USDT, USDC and others provide all the benefits of blockchain technology with none of the drawbacks, that is misleading because USDT can be quite centralized and may even inculcate governmental sanctions in its system as demonstrated by the US government in the past. So, while the digital side of things is appreciable, companies can consider Bitcoin and Ethereum-based payments eventually after being successful with USDT.
Image source: flickr.com
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