Despite major innovations within the fintech industry, there currently exists no programmable, ‘smart money’ digital representation of national currencies. ARYZE is building this in the form of “Digital Cash”, a currency with all the familiarity and practicality of existing national currencies with all the programmability and dynamism of cryptocurrencies.
As discussed in the previous article in this series, ARYZE is creating a full-reserve cloud-based banking system. Doing so will allow us to mitigate the risk associated with lending-based banking, and will also enable us to digitalise the world’s currencies with full knowledge on how much digital money is in circulation. Digitalising the world’s currencies will solve several major problems and optimize money usage.
Physical cash has several important limitations, which are especially prevalent in our increasingly digital and globalized world. Physical cash cannot be sent or spent internationally without the help of multiple intermediaries, often taking days or even weeks and costing significant sums to reach its final destination. Paper money can be easily lost or stolen without a trace; that untraceability also facilitates money laundering and financial crime. Finally, physical money is of limited utility, as it cannot be programmed the way that cryptocurrencies can be into infinite services and offerings.
Digital money solutions have the potential to address these problems, yet no optimal solution exists as of yet. Tokenization, or the transfer of “real world” assets to a blockchain, is a growing trend in blockchain-based finance. However, there has not yet been a smart money digital representation of existing national currencies. Stablecoins have the potential to significantly transform the payments industry by offering a modern smart-money solution without all the volatility of cryptocurrencies. Despite this, existing fiat-backed stablecoins that are available on open-source networks like Ethereum are still backed by traditional banks, and therefore carry the same risks.
A different kind of digital currency
ARYZE’s Digital Cash is designed to mitigate those risks and maximize utility. We are creating a currency with all of the practicality, stability, and recognisability of existing fiat currencies that are as dynamic, programmable, and flexible as cryptocurrencies. It’s about building a bridge between the world of regulated money and the world of open-source, programmable money. Whatever intermediaries are in between should go away, says ARYZE CEO Jack Nikogosian
How does it work?
ARYZE Digital Cash, such as eEUR or eUSD are stablecoins backed by a full-reserve banking model. ARYZE always holds enough assets with government guarantee, such as US T-bills, Cash, or European Bonds, to cover 100% of the amount of Digital Cash issued. Digital Cash is not subject to wild swings in value and can always be redeemed for traditional fiat currency, as ARYZE’s full reserve infrastructure will help eliminate bank runs, remove credit risk, and create a secure alternative to cash.
Storing and transferring a digital replica of cash, rather than moving money around globally, will make it significantly cheaper to receive money, more straightforward access to essential financial services, and easier to manage value and accounts.
What can it do?
ARYZE is on a mission to solve the biggest problems within the financial system by promoting global financial inclusion and enabling the two billion unbanked people worldwide to access basic financial services. They aremaking money entirely digital so that it can be used on open-source blockchains and protocols. This would allow anyone with a smartphone to access Digital Cash, such as ARYZE eEUR without having to go through a bank or other financial institution.
With Digital Cash SMEs can facilitate the shift from in-store cash payments to digital payments, driving a lower carbon footprint of transactions and solving the information asymmetry gaps that make lending to SMEs difficult ($5 trillion financing gap a year today).
To learn more about ARYZE, check out the other articles of these series on our blog, or visit our website.