Cryptocurrency giants Coinbase and Circle form joint venture

[Gastonic]

Two of the largest cryptocurrency companies, Coinbase and Circle, are joining forces to establish more ground rules in the quickly evolving asset class. The start-ups announced a joint-venture known as the "CENTRE Consortium" on Tuesday, which they say aims at speeding up adoption of cryptocurrencies backed by actual government currencies like the U.S. dollar.

"Coinbase and Circle share a common vision of an open global financial system built on crypto rails and blockchain infrastructure, and realizing this vision requires industry leaders to collaborate to build interoperable protocols and standards," Circle co-founders Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville said in a news release Tuesday. Circle launched its own U.S. dollar version of what's known as a "stablecoin" in May. The fintech company, valued at $3 billion in its most recent funding round, has made a series of deals and announcements in a long-term bet that despite bitcoin's price slump, the crypto economy is here to stay. The "USD Coin" was one of those bets, and as of Tuesday it will trade on Coinbase's popular cryptocurrency exchange. This is the first time Coinbase has supported a stablecoin, which it said is "fundamentally different" from other cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin's price has fluctuated wildly since its rise to nearly $20,000 last year, making it almost impossible to use as a viable payment alternative. A stablecoin like Circle's USD Coin, in comparison, is meant to represent a single U.S. dollar. It is a 1:1 representation of the greenback, just built on the ethereum blockchain. Each USD Coin is collateralized by a corresponding U.S. dollar, held in accounts subject to regular public reporting of reserves, Circle said.

What are people's thoughts on this? Will it achieve what it's founders claim it will?

Information taken from the article "Cryptocurrency giants Coinbase and Circle form joint venture to boost adoption of dollar-backed digital coins" found here : https://www.c[Suspicious link removed]m/2018/10/23/cryptocurrency-giants-coinbase-and-circle-form-a-joint-venture-to-boost-adoption-of-dollar-backed-stable-coins.html