Peterffy: Interactive Brokers Working on Potential Stablecoin

Interactive Brokers Explores In-House or Third-Party Stablecoins

The prominent discount brokerage Interactive Brokers (Nasdaq: IBKR), valued at nearly $110 billion, is exploring options to potentially issue a stablecoin but has not finalized how it would offer such a product, Peterffy explained to Reuters reporter Anirban Sen.

Among the possibilities, the Greenwich, Connecticut-based firm could also allow customers to fund accounts using stablecoins issued by other traditional financial (TradFi) institutions, depending on the issuer’s credibility.

Interactive Brokers already offers cryptocurrency trading through partnerships with crypto platform Paxos and is an investor in exchange Zero Hash. The move into stablecoin funding reflects the ongoing transformation of financial infrastructure driven by blockchain assets.

Peterffy expressed caution regarding the rapid adoption of cryptocurrencies, stating, “It’s basically hard to grasp its fundamental value. If we see people adopting it and ascribing a value to it, I’m okay with that, but I’m still not convinced.”

The consideration follows rival Robinhood Markets Inc.’s recent launch of the USDG stablecoin via its Global Dollar Network consortium, which includes Paxos as the issuer. Stablecoins facilitate cross-border money movement outside traditional banking. Other financial giants, such as Bank of America, are considering issuing stablecoins.

Interactive Brokers reported approximately 3.87 million customer accounts at the end of June, a 32 percent increase year-over-year. Its shares have surged about 47 percent since January, outpacing its sector index. Over the last month, IBKR shares have risen over 26% and year-to-date, the stock is up over 47%.