Barclays Bank has made an investment in Ubyx, a US-based clearing system for digital money, including tokenised deposits and regulated stablecoins.

The bank said it has made the investment at a time of increasing interest in new forms of digital money based on tokens transacted on public blockchain infrastructures.

The company added that more people are adopting digital money outside of cryptocurrency use cases, while regulation is becoming more clear in several geographic regions.

Barclays added that there could be a time when banks offer digital wallets alongside traditional accounts.

Both companies emphasised that they are committed to the responsible development of tokenised money within the regulatory perimeter.

The terms of the investment were not disclosed.

Ryan Hayward, head of digital assets and strategic investments at Barclays, said that interoperability is “essential” to developing the full potential of digital assets.

“As the landscape of tokens, blockchains and wallets evolves, specialist technology will play a pivotal role in delivering connectivity and infrastructure to enable regulated financial institutions to interact seamlessly,” he added. “We are pleased to be joining Ubyx on their journey as we drive forward our shared ambition to accelerate and shape innovation across our industry,"

Ubyx was founded last year and provides a common settlement environment to enable the widespread adoption of stablecoins.

The company’s platform connects multiple stablecoin issuers with numerous receiving financial institutions.

Additionally, the platform enables stablecoins to be redeemed at face value directly into bank or FinTech accounts and is designed to support a multi-issuer environment and several public blockchains, including Ethereum and Solana.

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