Early Warning Services and The Clearing House Consider Stablecoin Initiatives

Zelle operator Early Warning Services (EWS) and payments company and banking association The Clearing House are reportedly both considering their own, separate stablecoin projects.

EWS plans to explore issuing its own stablecoin aimed at retail bank customers, Yahoo! Finance reported Thursday (Sept. 11), citing unnamed sources.

This project would focus on giving bank customers a way to use stablecoins for everyday payments, according to the report.

EWS did not respond in the Yahoo! Finance report. Reached by PYMNTS, the company declined to comment.

Separately, The Clearing House is reportedly considering stablecoin initiatives, the report said, citing unnamed sources.

Responding to Yahoo! Finance’s request for comment, a spokesperson for The Clearing House said, per the report, that stablecoins “are a potential innovation in the digital asset and payments space” and that the company “always stays informed and evaluates emerging technologies/opportunities.”

It was reported in May that major U.S. banks were exploring the creation of a consortium-backed stablecoin and that the discussions involved EWS and The Clearing House as well as some of the nation’s largest financial institutions.

PYMNTS reported at the time that such an effort would develop a new kind of stablecoin infrastructure — one built by regulated entities from the ground up — while using existing rails like EWS and The Clearing House.

The proposed stablecoin would be fully backed by fiat held at the banks and function similarly to other stablecoins, but with a key differentiator: trust in institutional governance.

Meanwhile, stablecoin issuer Circle has launched a collaboration with digital asset platform Fireblocks according to a Tuesday (Sept. 9) report in PYMNTS.

The partnership, announced Tuesday, is aimed at making it easier and safer for financial institutions to develop digital asset offerings.

The combination of Circle’s stablecoin network and Fireblocks’ custody and payments infrastructure and network will “provide cross-border treasury and tokenized asset settlement,” the companies said in a news release.