Australian stablecoin payments startup Stables has announced its expansion to Europe and the United Kingdom in partnership with Mastercard. Co-founder Bernardo Bilotta says this move indicates a broader trend of dollar-pegged assets breaking into the mainstream.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Bilotta emphasized the importance of this step for his firm, noting a significant increase in the total addressable market in Europe. According to him, this market is roughly twenty times the size of Australia.

Expanding Horizons

The new partnership will allow Stables users to make purchases with Circle's USD Coin (USDC) in 27 countries throughout Europe, wherever Mastercard is accepted.

Additionally, users can utilize digital vendors like Apple and Google Pay. Bilotta highlighted that stablecoins are no longer just for those who "live and breathe crypto." Instead, dollar-pegged assets are being adopted by everyday people with a genuine need for them.

Bilotta said stablecoins, described by Morgan Stanley as "crypto's killer app," have now firmly emerged from "crypto-native" circles.

While crypto itself is known for being highly speculative, Bilotta pointed out the irony that the product with the best "product-market fit" is the most stable. "Everybody in crypto is talking about Dogwifhat -- stuff that goes up and down -- but if you look at the data, the thing that has got product market fit is digital dollars," he stated.

Utility and Adoption

As of today, stablecoins are used by hundreds of thousands of crypto-native and non-crypto-native users for trading, remittances, cross-border payments, and other payment applications around the world.

Bilotta noted that people from countries experiencing high inflation levels, such as Argentina and Turkey, and regions with high levels of "currency fragmentation," like South East Asia, are flocking to stablecoins as a more "stable" alternative.

Australian Roots

Founded in 2021, Stables is an Australian stablecoin payments startup that allows users to purchase everyday items with USDC via a digital debit card anywhere Mastercard is accepted.

Stables boasts backing from crypto venture fund Jump Capital, Pocketbook co-founder Alvin Singh, Bosco Tan, and Zip co-founder Larry Diamond.

In March, Stables launched capabilities for users to engage in international remittance payments between Australia and the Philippines.

On June 25, Stables, in collaboration with Mastercard, enabled support for the euro on its app, allowing users to spend USDC in 23 countries throughout the European Union.

Regulatory Landscape

Despite crypto regulation not being as evident in Australia as in the European Union, which is set to introduce its sweeping crypto framework, MiCA, in December, Bilotta said Australia was the ideal "sandbox" for building a crypto firm.

"Australia has one of the highest bars for regulation in the world regarding financial services. So, operating in such a high-standard regime means it's easier for us to go and export our models in other jurisdictions," he said.

Other larger crypto businesses, including the Australian arms of exchanges Kraken and Coinbase, have previously expressed concerns about the country's lack of regulatory clarity, citing unclear frameworks for how exchanges and crypto firms should operate.

Bilotta said he didn't share many of these concerns, noting that his company didn't require users to take risks like crypto exchanges do and was already fully compliant with all the necessary domestic regulations.

He added that the Australian government would only need to make a few minor changes —the most pressing of which was sorting out banking issues with crypto companies— if it wanted to become a "crypto hub." **"[Australia] could become a very favorable place to come and build crypto businesses.

We already have Synthetix, Infinex, Immutable, and THORChain,"** Bilotta said, listing several large crypto firms born out of Australia. "There's already a lot of crypto innovation that's come out of Australia," he added.

Challenges

He noted local financial institutions were debunking the most significant risk for crypto companies in Australia.

The Australian crypto industry faced a major setback in May 2023 when Binance announced the suspension of Australian dollar fiat services in the country following a decision from Cuscal, its third-party payment service provider.

Additionally, several of Australia's most prominent "Big Four" banks have cracked down on both retail and commercial crypto use in Australia over the last 18 months.