XRDL launched in Singapore; cryptocurrencies welcomed

By Puja Sharma

With over $2.5b transacted via digital assets platform StraitsX, Singaporeans are warming up to cryptocurrencies and digital assets.

Southeast Asia’s pioneering digital asset platform developed by Xfers, a Singapore-based FinTech licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for e-money issuance, announced the launch of the StraitsX Indonesian Rupiah (XIDR) its second stablecoin in Southeast Asia (SEA). Each XIDR token is fully backed by one Indonesian Rupiah and will be supported by partners in the StraitsX ecosystem.

XIDR is the first Indonesian Rupiah denominated stablecoin on both the Ethereum and Zilliqa
blockchain with each XIDR backed by one Indonesian Rupiah that is being held and Safeguarded in a regulated financial institution in Indonesia.

StraitsX is the pioneering payments infrastructure for the digital assets space in Southeast Asia developed by Singapore-based FinTech Xfers, a Major Payment Institution licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore for e-money issuance.

It offers personal and business accounts to mint and redeem stablecoins, manages payments as well as connects their accounts to digital asset platforms. Business accounts can also access B2B API-enabled payments rails for digital asset platforms aligned with Fazz Financial Group’s mission to empower the local community and promote the adoption of digital finance, StraitsX offers users an alternative way to perform financial transactions on behalf of the unbanked and underbanked customers.

XIDR will be issued by PT Xfers StraitsX Indonesia, which is an Indonesian subsidiary of Fazz Financial Group. The Fazz Financial group has obtained licenses for e-money issuance and fund transfer from Bank Indonesia.

According to a study by Google, the unbanked citizens still account for 66% of Indonesia’s 260 million population. “Coupled with Indonesia’s tremendous growth in the FinTech, blockchain, and digital asset space, and strong demand for a trusted and compliant Indonesian Rupiah denominated stablecoin” Aymeric Salley, Head of StraitsX said.

XIDR presents a way for the unbanked population to gain access to financial services. It also represents our next step to enabling, democratizing, and accelerating access to digital assets for individuals and businesses in Asia and beyond.” It aims to be the most cost-effective Indonesian Rupiah stablecoin, where minting and redemption of XIDR with IDR are available via the StraitsX platform for free, and where outbound on-chain transaction fees are capped.

Riding on the success of XSGD, the first Singapore dollar-denominated stablecoin, becoming one of the largest non-USD-denominated fiat-backed stablecoin, XIDR aims to become standard for the Indonesian Rupiah denominated stable coins.

In October, the StraitsX platform had surpassed the SGD2 billion mark in digital assets-related transactions in 2021 alone. The growth in transactions is a reflection of the increasing interest in digital assets and decentralized financial applications.

Indonesian residents can sign up for a StraitsX account and obtain XIDR tokens by transferring the Rupiah into their bank account. XIDR will always be convertible one-for-one with the Indonesian Rupiah on the StraitsX.

The release of XIDR would be supported by many of StraitsX’s existing partners, including exchanges, wallets, institutional custody solutions, DeFi platforms, blockchain analytics tools, and new partners. It is striving to secure more partnerships to bring in support for XIDR.

StraitsX aims to replicate the success of XSGD in 2021 with the introduction of XIDR where users can leverage the stablecoin to send Indonesian Rupiah on the blockchain in a trusted and secure manner without the need for a third-party clearing agent. Users can also transfer, spend and receive XIDR with StraitsX’s expanding list of ecosystem partners.