BNPL Payment Firm Afterpay Urges Senate to Support AUD-backed Stablecoins for Cutting Merchant Cost

The "buy now, pay later" (BNPL) payment company Afterpay expressed the hope that the Australian Senate will launch the Australian dollar stablecoin as soon as possible and said that the use of cryptocurrency would help merchants to reduce related payments.

According to a document submitted to the Senate Fintech Committee on Wednesday, Afterpay said that cross-blockchain transactions could reduce merchants’ payments related to cards, network operators, and banks.

Users can choose to wait for a more favourable network environment and lower costs to make encrypted payments.

Afterpay believes that AUD-based stablecoins are about to emerge and said that:

"There is currently no AUD-backed stablecoin with significant uptake. However, this is unlikely to remain true for long. An AUD-backed stablecoin would provide Australian cryptocurrency users and investors with an alternate store of value compared to the popular USD-denominated coins , with the associated benefits of blockchain technology."

Afterpay said that to meet consumers' buying needs, a company is likely to create a stablecoin that has gained "mass adoption."

Therefore, it is necessary for the government to actively think about the future regulatory framework of stablecoins, establish a "consumer-centric data protection" regulatory system, and conduct due diligence on the company entities that create stablecoins.

Recently, the digital commercial payment giant Square announced on August 1 that it would acquire the Australian payment platform Afterpay for 39 billion Australian dollars ($29 billion US dollars).