In cyberspace “code is law” which governs many digital services. But cyberspace does not exist in isolation, users ultimately live in societies governed by laws and regulations set and enforced by governments. For users, laws and regulations are protocols which define their interactions.
When Monerium first started considering how to bridge fiat currency and blockchains, we began by researching legal frameworks for digital currency already in place.
An early board member, Gisli Heimisson, suggested we look at e-money for tokenizing fiat. His advice was right: the e-money directive in the EU is intended to serve as a “technologically neutral” license for providing an “electronic surrogate for coins and banknotes”. It is a proven digital alternative to cash in a major jurisdiction which already supports billions of euros of pre-paid cards and obviates the need of an ad hoc user agreement. Asset-backed, redeemable, and regulated, e-money is the best possible proxy for central bank digital currency and a perfect building block for decentralized financial services.
The two canonical blockchains, Bitcoin and Ethereum, both build on proven technology which pre-dated them. Bitcoin uses public-key cryptography and one way functions to perform core functions. Similarly, Ethereum is a decentralized application platform which builds on Bitcoin and virtual machines to allow custom digital assets to transact online through smart contracts.
At Monerium, we follow the lead of the inventors of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Hacking code and law, we have married blockchains with an established protocol for digital cash making fiat for the first time available to mainstream users of blockchains. Let’s make DeFi happen.
About Monerium
Monerium is a financial technology company with the mission of making digital currency accessible, secure, and simple to transact. Using Monerium e-money, individuals and non-financial enterprises can store and send digital currency without going through traditional financial institutions. Monerium was founded in 2015 by a team with diverse backgrounds, including central banking, finance, blockchain, and cloud services. The company has raised $2M in funding from ConsenSys, Crowberry Capital, Hof Holdings, and private investors.
