Falcon Finance has tapped Anchorage Digital to launch a new payments stablecoin, fUSD, according to an announcement on Wednesday. The launch represents Falcon’s first step into more traditional stablecoin issuance, after securing a foothold with its crypto-native synthetic dollar token.
The new token will be backed by short-dated U.S. Treasuries, cash, and Treasury-backed repos, aligning with GENIUS Act requirements, according to the statement. Anchorage Digital Bank's federally regulated infrastructure will manage the token’s collateral and maintain its AML/KYC standards.
Falcon said fUSD is meant to act as a "regulated counterpart" to its existing USDf token, the 11th-largest stablecoin by market capitalization. USDf operates as an overcollateralized synthetic stablecoin, a style of stablecoin not covered by GENIUS.
"With fUSD now live, institutions have access to a regulated dollar asset designed for how they actually operate, across trading venues, collateral workflows, and treasury desks," Falcon founding partner Andrei Grachev said. "Partnering with Anchorage Digital gives fUSD the issuance foundation institutional users increasingly require."
The announcement notes that fUSD is being deployed as collateral on the Binance-linked institutional-grade crypto custody provider Ceffu's MirrorRSV solution. MirrorRSV is an off-exchange settlement solution that lets users keep assets in Ceffu cold storage while using a mirrored version as collateral on Binance for margin, futures, or other trading.
GENIUS compliant
Anchorage says its stablecoin issuance platform — which has also been tapped by the likes of Tether and Western Union — is the first federally regulated platform of its kind. The company was the first to be named a federally chartered crypto bank in the U.S., which assists its stablecoin issuance operations under the GENIUS Act, the federal law passed last summer.
Regulators are working on how to implement the GENIUS Act’s standards through rulemaking, with major agencies like the OCC and FDIC working with the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury on specifics. However, the broad strokes of the law are clear, with so-called “payments stablecoins” required to maintain full cash backing and be issued by licensed Permitted Payment Stablecoin Issuers, among other redemption requirements and limitations.
Synthetic stablecoins, like Falcon’s USDf, by definition fall outside the GENIUS Act framework, because they often use crypto-based collateral and staking mechanisms to maintain their fiat pegs.
Anchorage has been gearing up its stablecoin operations, including a recent tie-up with Grupo Salinas, the Mexican conglomerate controlled by billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego, for cross-border payments.