Stablecoins have been one of my major areas of interest since I got involved in crypto. First I learned of Bitcoin when I was studying abroad in China in 2015. In this post, we’ll explore the top 8 list of best stablecoins of 2020.
Stablecoins, also known as the “holy grail of cryptocurrency”, in their most ideal form, are simply cryptocurrencies with stable value. They share all the features that make Bitcoin so appealing, but don’t suffer from the same volatility, making them much more usable as a store of value, basic medium of exchange, and unit of account.
A stablecoin is a digital token that is meant to hold a stable value. The most common are pegged to fiat or other assets. Some are backed by other cryptocurrencies or a basket of currencies/indexes, while others are not backed by a fiat currency at all. They enable programmatic transactions and a verifiable history.
Stable coins are one of the keys to bringing the benefits of cryptocurrencies to everyday people, both in terms of price stability and decentralization of capital. Average citizens need a way to protect their money, a way send money to/receive money from their families in other countries, and merchants need a stable means of exchange in which to do business.
The stablecoin market emerged to fulfill those needs — providing people a stable store of value, a unit of account, and a means of exchange.
Here’s the stablecoins list of the top 8 most capitalised stable coins 2020
- Tether — USDT $11.64B
- USD Coin — USDC $1.35B
- TrueUSD — TUSD $374.67M
- Paxos Standart — PAX $244.95M
- BUSD $213.45M
- HUSD $137.31M
- Tether Gold — XAUT $ 93.99M
- QCash — QC $ 66.33M
Let’s take a look at the 8 best stablecoins of 2020.
#1 Tether
Launched in 2014, Tether allows users to store, send, and receive digital tokens pegged to dollars, euros, and offshore Chinese yuan. Tether (USDT) is issued on the Omni, TRON, and ETH blockchains. For details on the issuance across the different chains, please refer to: https://wallet.tether.to/transparency
USDT is widely seen as an easy way to have exposure to hedge into a more stable asset without having to deal with the slow and cumbersome banking system.
#2 USD Coin (USDC)
Similar to Tether, the USD Coin is also backed by the United States Dollar. Every 1 USD Coin equals to $1 US dollars. Fiat (or traditional assets) collateralized. Fiat tokens (USDC) for crypto payments and trading. Customers can tokenize dollars into USDC and redeem USDC into dollars through both Circle and Coinbase, making USD Coin the industry’s first open, fungible and interoperable fiat stablecoin.
#3 TrueUSD (by TrustToken Team)
USD-backed stable cryptocurrency (TUSD) focusing on transparency, built on Ethereum [Live since March 2018] fiat (or traditional assets) collateralized. TrueUSD is the first asset-backed token from the TrustToken project, which utilizes the TrustToken protocol to tokenize its legal entity’s holdings of USD.
TrueUSD was first established in 2017 and lives up to its reputation as one of the most trusted platforms in transferring assets through the use of blockchains.
#4 Paxos Standard (PAX)
Launched by the Paxos Trust Company, PAX combines US Dollar stability with the efficiency of blockchain technology. PAX tokens are issued 1:1 against dollar deposits from customers, and are always redeemed 1:1 as well.
#5 Binance USD (BUSD)
BUSD is a highly regulated 1:1 USD-backed stablecoin approved by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) and was launched in partnership with Paxos.
#6 HUSD (HUSD)
Launched by Huobi along with partners Stable Universal and Paxos Trust Company, HUSD is an ERC-20 token that is pegged 1:1 with USD.
#7 Tether Gold (XAUT)
Tether Gold is a gold-backed stablecoin offered by TG Commodities Limited. XAUT represents ownership of one troy ounce of gold (approximately 31.1 grams) held in a Switzerland vault.
#8 QCash (QC)
China’s answer to the growing demand for cryptocurrencies is QCash. Qcash is a stablecoin that aims to mirror the value of the CNY (Chinese Yuan) for the cryptocurrency traders and investors in China. They could make use of the stability of the coin when transferring to and from the volatile crypto market. The idea was to create a stable cryptocurrency that can be used like digital CNY. The price of 1 Qcash is 1 CNY. Users can use 1 CNY to buy 1 QC and then use QC to trade crypto assets.
QCash is a blockchain project initiated by QuickCash Network Pte. Ltd and headquartered in Singapore. With the continuous development of blockchain technology, the QCash team has been exploring and optimizing the stable currency solutions. They also aim to make the stable coin fully decentralized, free-flowing, exchange rate stability, and regulatory compliant.
The rise of stablecoins is inevitable
Now is a good time to obtain stable coins like USDT, USDC or QC for traders looking to test-drive different strategies without having to worry about possible market upheavals. Many exchanges have already added these three stable coins as quote currencies, meaning that they value the base currency in a trading pair. But before starting any trade operations with stablecoins it’s essential to make sure the chosen platform is safe and reliable, regardless of stablecoins hedging on usual market volatility, which implies higher possible losses in case something goes wrong. When it comes to security issues, the big exchanges that have never been compromised are ZB.com and Huobi.