TL;DR
- Barclays bought a stake in Ubyx, its first stablecoin-related investment, aiming to develop tokenized money within the regulatory perimeter; terms were undisclosed.
- Ubyx, launched in 2025, runs a clearing system and raised $10 million in July led by Galaxy Ventures; Brian Quintenz joined as adviser.
- Barclays also joined a 10-bank stablecoin consortium, while stablecoin supply exceeds $290 billion and USDT holds over 64%, reinforcing its infrastructure-first stance.
Barclays is stepping deeper into regulated digital money after taking a stake in U.S.-based stablecoin settlement startup Ubyx, a move Reuters described as the British bank’s first investment in a stablecoin-related company. Barclays said the deal aligns with its plan to explore “new forms of digital money” and to work with Ubyx on tokenized money within the regulatory perimeter. The bank did not disclose the size or valuation. Even so, the stake signals a shift from watching the sector to funding key plumbing. It also builds on earlier consortium work aimed at regulated stablecoin issuance.
Barclays’ Tokenized-Money Playbook Takes Shape
Ubyx, launched in 2025, operates a clearing system designed to reconcile transactions across different stablecoin issuers, framing its product as settlement infrastructure rather than a consumer token. In July, the company said it raised $10 million in a seed round led by Galaxy Ventures, with Coinbase Ventures, Founders Fund, and VanEck participating. Former Commodity Futures Trading Commission commissioner Brian Quintenz, whose nomination to lead the agency was withdrawn last fall, joined as an adviser last month. For Barclays, these signals support an infrastructure-first approach to tokenized money adoption without committing it to directly issuing tokens.
The Ubyx stake follows a series of bank-led initiatives aimed at shared rails for tokenized money. In October, Barclays joined a consortium with nine other major institutions, including Goldman Sachs and UBS, to explore issuing a regulated stablecoin pegged to a basket of G7 currencies. A separate European initiative announced on Sept. 25 last year involves nine banks forming a new company to launch a MiCAR-compliant, euro-denominated stablecoin, with the Amsterdam-based venture expected to issue the token in the second half of 2026. Collectively, consortium momentum is accelerating. Barclays is positioning early as rules solidify.
Stablecoins are scaling fast: total supply has surpassed $290 billion, and Tether’s USDT represents about $187 billion, more than 64% of the market. They are used mainly for settlement and liquidity in crypto markets, with growing use in cross-border payments. Yet only a few banks have issued tokens. Societe Generale’s SG-FORGE launched a euro-backed stablecoin in 2023 with about 67.8 million euros in circulation, plus a dollar token last year with roughly $26.9 million outstanding. Against that backdrop, Barclays is betting on infrastructure, not issuance, after previously blocking credit-card crypto purchases in June for now.
