Billed as the first ‘interoperable mega-utility token,’ Universal Protocol Token (UPT) has gained support from Bitcoin.com, with the site’s exchange set to provide an initial exchange listing on November 20, 2019.
Please Note: This is a Press Release
Backed by the formidable Universal Protocol Alliance, a collective of leading blockchain organizations that includes Bittrex Global, Cred, Blockchain at Berkeley, CertiK, Uphold, Brave and OmiseGo, UPT will be listed alongside multiple Universal Protocol stablecoins. These comprise the Universal Dollar (UPUSD), Universal Euro (UPEUR) and an ERC20 iteration of Bitcoin named Universal Bitcoin (UPBTC). Universal Yen (UPYEN) is also currently in development, and each alliance member organization has already integrated the UPT directly into their businesses.
With the ultimate aim of expediting mainstream adoption of blockchain technology, the Universal Protocol Alliance seeks to simplify the process by which users can transfer digital assets between disparate exchanges, wallets and networks, and the experience of their advisory board is likely to be invaluable. Steering the ship is Dan Schatt, former Head of Financial Innovation at PayPal and President of decentralized lending platform Cred.
“We are thrilled to build technology that solves real problems for customers, merchants, and elected officials to help usher in the next 100 million users of blockchain,” said Schatt. “Not only does blockchain technology result in significant cost reduction for consumers and merchants, but it also enables highly productive tax collection, transparency, and predictability for city and state governments.”
Under Schatt’s stewardship, Cred has been blazing a trail for merchant adoption of crypto assets, demonstrating a new Point-of-Sale device at San Francisco Blockchain Week on October 30. In addition, Berkeley City Councilmember Ben Bartlett recently became the first elected official to make a purchase using bitcoin cash with the aid of Cred’s PoS technology.
Challenging the Big Players
Founded in 2018, the Universal Protocol Platform makes all tokenized assets accessible and convertible across a single network, creating an alluring value proposition for both seasoned traders and newcomers to the cryptocurrency market. A lack of interoperability between blockchains has long been viewed as an impediment to widespread adoption, so the capacity of the mega-utility token to be utilized throughout the cryptosphere may well appeal.
As per its name, the Alliance hopes that the Universal Protocol Token will become the universal method for exchanging value over the internet, with safeguards such as fund recovery and easy inheritability in place to assuage doubts.
Securing the backing of Bitcoin.com Exchange will be seen as a major coup for powerful coalition, which is now seeking to challenge established crypto monopolies such as Binance. Indeed, it’s hard not to see the all-purpose mega-utility token as a direct competitor to Binance’s multi-function token, BNB. Whether it can rock the foundations of BNB remains to be seen. But with Schatt at the helm, and an ever-strengthening coalition, launching a credible challenge to BNB at the very least doesn’t seem out of the question.