Finding US Dollar alternative stablecoins is difficult. For example, on 9 August 2022, only two of CoinMarketCap’s largest stablecoins, the Statsis Euro (EURS) and XSGD (XSGD) were not USD instruments.
Obviously, the Euro backs the Stasis Euro, but what is the XSGD? The XSGD is a Singapore Dollar stablecoin that runs on the Ethereum (ETH) and Zilliqa (ZIL) blockchains. Zilliqa is a blockchain that supports powerful dApps (decentralized applications).
The Singapore Dollar (SGD) is the fiat currency of the city state or Republic of Singapore, a former British colony on the Southern tip of the Malay peninsula. Singapore is one of the world’s leading financial centers with deep capital markets and a large wealth management marketplace.
In recent decades, Singapore has emerged a banking and insurance center that rivals London and Switzerland. Caproasia ranks Singapore as the world’s sixth largest financial center in 2022, behind Los Angeles, but ahead of San Francisco.
Why the Singapore Dollar?
Around 74.2% of Singapore’s 5.976 million people are of Chinese descent, World Population Review estimates. That makes Singapore a popular alternative to Shanghai and Hong Kong, which are in the People’s Republic of China. Hence, Singapore Dollar and XSGD are attractive people who are afraid or skeptical of the Chinese Communist Party.
Many people are seeking alternatives to the US Dollar, the Chinese Yuan, and the Euro because the European Union, the People’s Republic of Chinese and the United States of America are experiencing problems. The USA has been experiencing political unrest and violence, China is experiencing irrational leadership, mismanagement, and authoritarian policies under President Xi Jinping, and the European Union is suffering energy shortages because of the Ukraine War.
Some investors have lost confidence in both the Euro and the US Dollar in recent months. Hence, interest in lesser currencies, such as the Singapore Dollar (SGD) is growing. I suspect one reason for the interest in the Singapore Dollar is that Singapore could be neutral in a Chinese-American conflict.
They created the Singapore Dollar in 1967 after Singapore became independent from Malaysia. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issues the Singapore Dollar. They claim the MAS pegs the Singapore Dollar to a trade-weighted basket of currencies. The identity of the currencies they peg the SGD to is a closely guarded secret.
The Singapore Dollar was worth $0.73 in US Dollars on 9 August 2022.
The Straights X Singapore Dollar (XSGD)
The Straights X Singapore Dollar (XSGD) is a multichain stablecoin issued by Straights X, a licensed Major Payment institution in Singapore.
They claim one Singapore Dollar held by a Singapore bank backs each XSGD. Each XSGD contains a smart contract, a smart contract is a dApp that releases payment from the bank in Singapore Dollars when you spend an XSGD.
They claim Quantstamp audits all StraightsX tokens to ensure fiat currency backs them. The Monetary Authority of Singapore regulates StraightsX and the XSGD.
An organization they call StraightsX builds the XSGD. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (Singapore’s Central Bank) licenses Straights for e-money issuance. The name StraightsX comes from the Straights Dollar, the official currency of Singapore, from 1845 until 1939.
StraightsX claims to have over 200,000 users. StraightsX claims to have processed over billion SDG ($1.45 billion USD) worth of digital assets.
What Value does the StraightsX Singapore Dollar (XSGD) have?
StraightsX claims to have processed 4.875 billion XSGD through its blockchain as of 9 August 2022.
StraightsX reported a Total Supply of 102.357 million XSGD on 9 August 2022. They claim users had made 188,656 through 6,632 active addresses through as of 9 August 2022.
In contrast, CoinMarketCap named XSGD the 357th largest cryptocurrency with a 71.01₵ Coin Price, a $63.593 million Market Capitalization, a Fully Diluted Market Cap of $70.920 million, and a 24-Hour Market Volume of $985,134 on 9 August 2022. They base numbers on a Circulating Supply of 89.562 million XSGD and a Total Supply of 99.857 million XSGD.
Conversely, CoinBase gave XSGD a 72₵ Coin Price, a $63.6 million Market Cap and a $985,179.01 24-Hour Market Volume on 9 August 2022. They base those numbers on a Circulating Supply 89.6 million XSGD. CoinBase gives XSGD an all-time high Coin Price of $1.73.
Note: both CoinBase and CoinMarketCap show the XSGD’s price does not match the Singapore Dollar. Google estimates the Singapore Dollar was worth 73₵ in USD on 9 August 2022. Thus, like most stablecoins, the StraightsX XSGD is not stable. Instead, its price varies because of market demand, which shows a lack of stability.
If you are seeking a US Dollar stablecoin with actual value, I think the XSGD is worth a look. I suspect people betting against the US Dollar or the Yuan could make money by hedging XSGD.
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