Barclays Invests in US Stablecoin Startup Ubyx

Barclays, one of many UK’s ‘Huge 4’ largest banks, has purchased a stake in U.S. stablecoin settlement startup Ubyx.

Ryan Hayward, Head of Digital Belongings and Strategic Investments at Barclays, mentioned that interoperability “is important to unlock the complete potential of digital belongings.” The dimensions or the phrases of the funding weren’t disclosed.

Haward added, “Because the panorama of tokens, blockchains and wallets evolves, specialist expertise will play a pivotal function in delivering connectivity and infrastructure to allow regulated monetary establishments to work together seamlessly.”

Based in March 2025 by former Citi govt Tony McLaughlin, Ubyx is growing what is named a clearing system for stablecoins and tokenized deposits. This goals to permit customers to deposit digital cash from quite a lot of issuers and in a number of currencies into present financial institution and fintech accounts. In accordance with its white paper, the startup plans to assist stablecoins obtain “money equal standing” to allow them to see extra mainstream company adoption.

This isn’t the primary time Ubyx has seen main funding. In July 2025, the startup raised $10 million in a seed spherical led by Galaxy Ventures with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Peter Theil’s Founders Fund, VanEck, Mirana Ventures, LayerZero, Paxos, Boku, Payoneer, and Monerium.

UK follows U.S. on stablecoins

The information comes because the UK is lastly codifying its stablecoin rules, following the passage of the GENIUS Act within the U.S. final July.

In November 2025, the UK rolled out its proposed stablecoin regime, together with caps on particular person holdings and people of small and medium companies. The foundations are nonetheless awaiting trade enter earlier than coming into play.

A CryptoUK spokesperson informed Decrypt that Barclays’ funding in Ubyx was a sign that UK establishments “are transferring past exploration” and at the moment are “taking sensible steps to combine digital cash inside regulated frameworks.” The trade lobbying group added that any such “stablecoin settlement infrastructure” is a “important element” for the way forward for tokenized markets.

Chris Jones, managing director at funds consultancy PSE Consulting, was impressed by Barclays’ “pragmatic” method.

“By investing in settlement and clearing capabilities fairly than backing particular person tokens, this sort of transfer performs to banks’ strengths as trusted intermediaries in international monetary markets,” he mentioned, including that any such funding in real-world use circumstances was “important for stablecoins to scale past experimentation.”