A New Partnership for Stellar
Plus an update on some other market moves
One of the most intriguing aspects of the Crypto Revolution involves the global adoption of cryptocurrencies as stores of value and methods of payments. For people in countries lacking viable banking solutions, this can be a real opportunity, and a economic lifeline.
Stellar is one of the blockchains focused deeply on this. Launched in 2014, Stellar is a payment network with a native currency, $XLM. About 24 billion tokens are in circulation right now, with a max of 50 billion.
On Wednesday, Wyre, a cryptocurrency infrastructure provider, announced a new partnership with Stellar to onboard Brazilian and Argentinian local currencies into digital assets.
In light of that, I had a conversation with the folks over at Wyre this week. Here’s a read out of my interview:
Q&A With Erich Grant, Director of Business Development at Wyre
Can you explain Wyre to the uninitiated user?
Erich Grant: Wyre is an all-in-one payment solution that allows users to on-ramp and off-ramp into cryptocurrency, bridging the gap between fiat and crypto while providing secure access to the most inclusive and open monetary infrastructure in the world.
How important is it to open avenues for cryptocurrency adoption?
Erich Grant: Extremely important. Wyre was created with the intention of bridging the gap between fiat and crypto by providing world-class Payment APIs. From accepting card payments to sending global payouts, our APIs help you launch in hours, not months.
Throughout Wyre’s history, we have continuously created solutions that were needed to progress the space, serving as a catalyst for the industry’s ecosystem and infrastructure as a whole!
Why did Wyre choose the Stellar network for integration with Brazilian and Argentenian currencies?
Erich Grant: Stellar and Wyre’s mission of bringing cryptocurrency to the masses align closely and thus it is a seamless partnership. Stellar is building an amazing remittance system around their world, which offers exciting opportunities of new functionalities that do not currently exist.
We believe this partnership is a great benefit to both the different markets in Latin America and to the larger crypto industry. Â
What concerns do Latin American businesses and developers have about using cryptocurrency?
Erich Grant: Many regions of the world still lack easy on and off ramps, making it difficult for developers to build a mass audience for their applications. Consumers need an easy way to enter the crypto ecosystem that mirrors a typical e-commerce experience.
Many economies in LATAM suffer under dysfunctional monetary regimes with capital controls which makes the easy on and off ramping into crypto uniquely challenging.Â
Additionally, many countries in LATAM have unclear regulatory policies around crypto, which makes building and maintaining a compliant business challenging. Wyre’s compliance and regulatory tools can help ease that challenge for developers.
We are rooted in trust and understanding in the cryptocurrency space which has allowed our company to create a comprehensive compliance infrastructure.
What is the biggest general hurdle that you see for crypto adoption?
Erich Grant: In short, infrastructure remains one of the hardest pieces of the puzzle that the industry as a whole needs to face, which is where Wyre plugs in. We are creating these kinds of payment solutions, building infrastructure to grow faster, allowing builders to develop their vision in days, not months.
Do you see cryptocurrency as a multichain future? Why or why not?
Erich Grant: Wyre has always prided itself on being a chain agnostic platform - we strongly believe the future is multi-chain.
Wyre has been positioning itself for the birth of Web 3.0 for a while and already designing solutions to be compatible with our perceived future of cryptocurrency.
Wyre’s commitment to an inter-operable multi-chain future is what led us to developing our SWAP API functionality, which enables users to swap in and out of any of our support assets in a non-custodial manner.
As of this newsletter, Stellar’s native token, XLM, traded at about .19 cents.
Meanwhile, Wednesday’s Federal Reserve meeting has garnered lots of fallout. I believe the anticipation of this meeting led to at least some of the stock and crypto selloff of the last week or so.
Chairman Jerome Powell hosted a press conference after the Fed signaled that interest rates would likely rise following the March meeting. Among other things, he declined to say if the rates would be .25 percent or above, opening the door for .5 percent or higher. He also made numerous comments about the pressure of inflation on the market, the labor market, and supply chain issues.
Just my opinion (not financial advice)—if you’re investing in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for the long term (with a mindset of years, not weeks or days) then breeze on by this.
Keep on holding.
All this announcement really tells you is that this might be a buying opportunity because the market sold off in response to the meeting. Stocks dipped, and so did crypto. They will probably drop even more this week.
But remember—a pullback or dip in price means you can get more for less. Volume matters.
Expect 2022 to have a decent share of dips.
Finally…
As this newsletter grows, I’d love to hear from you about the content you’d like to read. Feel free to reach out anytime with questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions for topics!
The Crypto Connection is for entertainment purposes only and is not meant to be financial advice. Please do your own research before investing in any asset class. Sara Celi is not a financial advisor, and holds several cryptocurrencies. To purchase her books on Amazon, please click here.