Barclays, a major British financial company, has entered the digital asset market in earnest by acquiring a stake in U.S. stablecoin payments infrastructure startup Ubyx, The Block reported on Tuesday.
The investment is likely to be the first instance of a British bank directly deploying capital into stablecoin technology.
Barclays chose a strategy focused on building infrastructure and joining a consortium rather than issuing a stablecoin itself.
As part of its strategy to explore digital currencies, Barclays plans to work with Ubyx to develop a regulator-supported “tokenised money”, The Block said. The investment size and valuation were not disclosed.
Founded in 2025, Ubyx operates a clearing system that coordinates transactions among various stablecoin issuers. It raised $10 million in a seed round led by Galaxy Ventures in July last year. Coinbase Ventures, Founders Fund and VanEck also participated in that investment. Former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) commissioner Brian Quintenz has recently joined Ubyx as an adviser.
Chi-gyu Hwang
delight@d-today.co.kr