stable coins
By Julie Binoche
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What GELT Is Actually Supposed to Do. The pitch from Georgia's side is straightforward. GELT would give citizens a stable digital…
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Regulatory Hurdles Still Ahead. None of this is live yet. Regulatory approvals still need to happen, and the technical…
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Tether is going sovereign. The company behind the world's most widely used stablecoin just announced a partnership with the government of Georgia to build GELT, a new digital…
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It's a pretty big deal for both sides. Tether brings the technical muscle — years of running USDT, the dominant dollar-backed stablecoin — and Georgia brings something rarer:…
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State-backed stablecoins are still a pretty niche idea globally.
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Most countries have talked about central bank digital currencies — CBDCs — for years, and most of those conversations haven't gone anywhere fast.
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The pitch from Georgia's side is straightforward. GELT would give citizens a stable digital alternative to cash — one that's tied to the Lari, so it doesn't swing around the way…
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There's also a cross-border angle. Georgian businesses that deal with international partners could potentially use GELT for faster, cheaper transfers.
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Financial inclusion is another goal the Georgian side keeps mentioning. Parts of the population that don't have easy access to traditional banking could, in theory, use GELT…
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More context: ADI Chain Lands Ledger Deal as Stablecoin Token Network Pushes Wider
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None of this is live yet. Regulatory approvals still need to happen, and the technical infrastructure has to be built out before GELT goes anywhere near real users.
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The regulatory piece is probably the harder part. Georgia would need a framework that governs how GELT is issued, redeemed, and audited — basically the same questions that have…
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Tether itself has faced years of questions about its own reserve backing for USDT. That history won't disappear just because this is a government partnership.
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Still, the structure here is different from a purely private stablecoin. Georgia's government has reputational and economic reasons to make GELT work. That's not nothing.
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More context: IHCs $30 Million Dirham-Backed Stablecoin Deal Is a Gulf First
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