Salt Lake City, Utah – Fluent Finance, a blockchain-based fintech company, has announced its latest partnership with Moonstone Bank. Moonstone will be a custodian partner in Fluent’s growing network of banks, with plans to expand to a full node member soon. This partnership will allow Fluent and Moonstone Bank to connect the traditional financial system to the emerging Web 3 economy.
Founded in 1887, Moonstone Bank (DBA of Farmington State Bank) is a state-chartered digital bank that provides financial services to innovative businesses and small and medium-sized businesses under the leadership of current CEO, Ronald Oliviera. Oliveria brings over 25 years of financial services, fintech and startup experience to Moonstone and previously served as CEO of Revolut USA and on the board of the California’s Banking Association.
Fluent Finance, led by current CEO Bradley Allgood, aimed to bring the benefits of decentralized finance to the traditional banking sector. Allgood’s approach was to create US+, a unified high-trust US dollar stablecoin with fully auditable one-to-one reserves and on-chain transparency. To further strengthen the trustworthiness of US+, the Fluent Decentralized Autonomous Organization (FluentDAO) was established to distribute decision-making power among banking partners and to prohibit any given member from having non-competitive influence over US+.
“Moonstone Bank is now a key player in Fluent’s financial ecosystem and will serve as an initial custodian partner. Fluent plans to eventually bring Moonstone Bank as a full-node partner, which will allow the bank to mint and burn US+,” Allgood said.
“Partnering with Moonstone is incredibly exciting and will help Fluent bring a safe and secure stablecoin to market while enabling instant payments along with lower fees. It will also clearly demonstrate the benefits that stablecoins can bring to the banking sector, businesses and everyday end users.”
The concept of a stablecoin is simple. A person can purchase a coin that is pegged to a fiat currency either algorithmically or through reserves held by the coin’s issuer. When a person converts a US dollar stablecoin back to fiat currency, it should always be worth one US dollar. However, in recent months many stablecoins have faced a number of challenges.
Fluent’s solution is to gradually build an organization of financial institutions that issue stablecoins, known as the Fluent Federation of Member Banks. For every US+ stablecoin a federation member creates, there is one US dollar in a reserve account. When the stablecoin is converted back to fiat currency, the US+ is burned. This ensures that there is always a one-to-one ratio between dollars held in reserve and US+ issued by the federation.
Allgood elaborates on the urgent need for a secure stablecoin: “Stablecoins offer incredible benefits for banks and consumers. To design a stablecoin like we have at Fluent, you need to anticipate regulation, be forward thinking, and make sure there is an actual dollar behind each coin. In order to reduce the risk and have the confidence necessary for a stablecoin to be widely used in the market, transparency and audibility on the chain is a must. Being opaque about what supports a stablecoin is just not safe for users.”
Fluent’s collaboration with Moonstone Bank and the collective experience of the two companies in banking and finance bring new promise to stablecoins and the maturation of cryptocurrencies with responsible governance.
Notes to the market
Currently, and until further notice, Moonstone Bank ONLY offers commercial USD accounts for Fluent.
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About Moonstone Bank
Moonstone Bank is a state-chartered bank specializing in catering to small and medium-sized businesses with technology-driven solutions for commercial banking and digital assets.
Website: www.moonstonebank.com
About Fluent Finance Inc
Fluent Finance Inc is an American blockchain development and fintech company that bridges the gap between traditional and digital assets.
Website: www.fluent.finance
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Media contact
Scott Richards
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