Jewel Bank Launches Stablecoin-Based Payment Services

Jewel Bank has launched stablecoin-based payment services backed by bank deposits. 

These services leverage the Polygon ecosystem, Jewel Bank said in a Monday (Dec. 12) post on LinkedIn. 

“Our partnership with Polygon Companies helps power a key part of our long-term stablecoin infrastructure, which brings bank-grade safety, speed and security to stablecoins,” Jewel Bank Founder and Chairman Chance Barnett said, per a Monday report by CoinDesk to which there was a link in the Jewel Bank post. 

The Bermuda-based bank’s stablecoin is called Jewel USD (JUSD), and Jewel Bank will keep a reserve ratio of 1:1 with the U.S. dollar, and the stablecoin reserves will be regularly audited by the bank and reported monthly and quarterly, according to the report. 

Jewel Bank will use the Polygon ecosystem for both commercial and retail payment solutions based on stablecoin, the report said. 

The bank received approval from the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) for its combined full bank license and digital asset business (DABA) license in June, becoming Bermuda’s first new bank in 20 years and its first digital asset bank, Jewel Bank said in a June 7 press release. 

It will service digital asset firms in any non-sanctioned jurisdiction, providing core banking, payments and settlements, according to the press release. 

Barnett said at the time that digital asset exchanges and institutions outside the United States have not had access to the institutional banking infrastructure that they need to provide liquidity, reliability and scale to the space and meet its demand for fiat ramps and stablecoin payments. 

“Jewel Bank will serve as the bridge between the traditional fiat banking system and new digital asset rails in order to serve the high-volume payments and settlement needs of our large global clients, including crypto exchanges, with both traditional and stablecoin-based payments solutions,” Barnett said at the time. 

As PYMNTS reported Aug. 11, stablecoins are the privately issued currencies that could change the way people pay for goods and services in ways that have central bankers and regulators afraid they’ll lose control of their economies.