Global digital bank FV Bank is the latest financial platform to enable deposits in Circle-backed stablecoin USD Coin (USDC).
FV Bank on Wednesday announced the launch of a new service allowing its account holders to make direct deposits in USDC to the bank’s US dollar accounts. The new feature enables customers to receive USDC into their accounts like traditional deposits via wire or automated clearing house networks.
According to the announcement, USDC funds received are instantly and automatically converted to United States Dollars (USD) at the time of deposit This new solution helps FV Bank users to invoice their international clients in USDC, enabling faster and cheaper transactions as well as conversions, the firm said.
“We believe this feature will greatly improve the user experience and open up more frictionless commerce,” FV Bank CEO Miles Paschini told Cointelegraph.
Paschini noted that USDC will be the first stablecoin accepted for deposits in USD at this time, but FV Bank may consider more stablecoins in the future.
“We chose USDC because of its licensing, reserve attestation and real time 1:1 liquidity,” noted the CEO.
In addition to integrating USDC, FV Bank also plans to launch its own custody service in Q4 2022, allowing customers to hold digital assets in a custodial account alongside their depository accounts. According to Paschini, FV Bank’s custody will support major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and other currencies, “based on our supported asset criteria.”
FV Bank is a crypto-friendly digital bank regulated by the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions in Puerto Rico. The company originally planned to launch cryptocurrency custody services in 2021, following the suit of major US banks such as Standard Chartered.
According to the CEO, the firm’s crypto roadmap has not been compromised despite the ongoing crypto winter.
“Overall, the ‘bear market’ has not affected our business as we continue to grow and expand our services in a responsible manner,” Paschini said.
FV Bank is not the only financial institution that has recently integrated USDC. On Tuesday, crypto-friendly stock trading app Robinhood announced its USDC listing. Will be stablecoin become Available for transfer today on both the Polygon and Ethereum networks.
Related: The Circle co-founder said a consolidated dollar book on Binance would be good for USDC
While FV Bank and Robinhood are set to add USDC support, some major companies have recently opted out of stablecoins.
On September 6, Binance announced plans to list USDC alongside other stablecoins such as PaxDollar (USDP) and TrueUSD (TUSD), citing liquidity and capital efficiency purposes. Indian exchange WazirX later followed Binance in announcing a similar arrangement and instead offered the Binance-backed Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin.
