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The Stellar Development Foundation is more focused on building its protocol than the market conditions, said the organization’s Senior Director of Enterprise Ecosystems, Lisa Nestor. In an exclusive interview with CryptoPotato, Nestor also spoke about Stellar’s latest developments.
Stellar USDC Accessible Savings Products
The blockchain-based network for currencies and payments recently announced a significant milestone achieved by partnering with the payment processor – Wyre. The latter launched a new Wyre Savings API where “FinTechs can access yield-earning savings products leveraging Stellar USDC.”
CryptoPotato had the chance to speak with Nestor during the Miami 2021 Bitcoin Conference, where she provided more details about how the initiative will function.
Nestor believes the new partnership, that will facilitate fiat to crypto payments, would have a “really big impact in the market” because of Wyre’s reach to its giant customers from the Fintech sector.
With the new initiative, “those same fintechs will be able to individually consume the savings products for their own enterprise treasury and offer it to their end customers via the API.
So that means that a crypto wallet anywhere in the world can suddenly enable their users to not only get access to a fast, cheap version of USDC, but they can also offer them this savings account where they can earn yield on it.”
Additionally, being a regulated financial services firm in the US with a license to operate in most of the country’s states and several other nations, Wyre can enhance the legitimacy of the project for those not involved in the cryptocurrency industry.
At the same time, Stellar will provide its efficient platform and bring the USDC using its blockchain that is “liquid and reputable.”
The project was in beta for a few months and has displayed substantial results in the trials using BTC and ETH. However, USDC was just recently added, and Wyre and Stellar are yet to provide the initial usage numbers.
Lots of Dollars That Need To Go In Some Places
On the question of how did the late 2020 and early 2021 bull market impact Stellar’s product development, Nestor said it didn’t have as significant effects as some positive news in terms of regulations coming from the US.
For instance, she outlined the OCC’s decision to enable US banks to use stablecoins and public blockchains for payments. It had a “really good impact on the quality of the conversations we are having with US-based financial institutions.”
Nevertheless, Nestor outlined the massive price appreciations in the market, making it XLM popular among retail investors once again. However, she also believes “there are some much larger macroeconomic things that are going on right now that really have nothing to do with crypto.”
“There’s a lot of dollars in the world right now, and those need to go in some places. And, so just like we’re seeing – impacts the stock markets.
I think you can see impact on crypto markets too. I think that was part of the bull run, so recently, that inevitably has to pull off like any market has to cool off.”
As far as the company’s mission, Nestor said it has focused on cross-border payments:
“I think being able to execute a payment from one side of the world to the other, using an asset like USDC or Stellar’s native on and off ramps and being able to do that for fractions of a cent in a few seconds – that’s really what it’s about.
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