Poundtoken: The Transparent and Secure GBP Stablecoin You Need to Know About

Stablecoins are a useful part of cryptocurrency. These tokens allow crypto traders to essentially trade a token valued at 1 USD (or whatever currency they choose as a peg) on the blockchain. 

However, the stablecoin industry has been mired by controversies almost from its inception. There are many doubts that Tether has adequate funds to back all the Tether tokens in circulation and the downfall of algorithmic stablecoins (ie. Luna) has left doubt in the eyes of many about stablecoins. Poundtoken (GBPT) is one stablecoin attempting to provide all the benefits of a centralized stablecoin (ie. little risk of losing the peg) without needing blind faith that they have the funds in their bank account. 

It’s an interesting stablecoin project and they do receive a monthly attestation from KPMG, which is reassuring. Anyway, this article will cover everything you need to know about poundtoken. 

What is poundtoken?

Poundtoken is a stablecoin project based in the Isle of Man. They are a fully licensed money transmitter in the Isle of Man and receive monthly attestations from KPMG. The attestations appear to be done in order to meet licensing rules set forth by the Isle of Man.

Specifically, poundtoken provides a stablecoin for the British Pound Sterling. This means that users of the Ethereum blockchain can trade the stablecoin as a substitute for trading the GBP. This comes in handy when using a decentralized exchange or even when using a centralized exchange if you do not want to send fiat currency to it. 

Stablecoins are just very useful overall. 

The stablecoin that poundtoken issues is called GBPT, which we do not find the best name as it may be associated with Tether. For those that don’t know, Tether issues a USD stablecoin named USDT. 

One thing we really like about poundtoken is they have a Chainlink oracles connected to their bank account, so it’s possible to independently verify the amount of cash they have in reserve. 

That is, in our opinion, much more useful than an attestation from an accounting firm. There are ways to manipulate an attestation and the accounting firm takes no liability when they perform an attestation.

Is poundtoken Audited?

No, poundtoken is not audited. They do receive a monthly assurance report from KPMG, which is a Big 4 accounting firm. 

An assurance report is similar to an audit, but it’s not the same thing. This becomes abundantly clear when reading the report. 

For one, it’s mentioned very clearly that the document is not an audit. 

The report itself states that it is not an audit, contains no opinion, and issues may have come to light if a full audit was performed. Basically, an assurance report shows that the information that a company is telling is truthful.

We only mention it because on the poundtoken website it states that poundtoken is audited by a Big 4 Accounting firm. See the below image for reference:

That’s a very strange statement to say on the website. It’s likely done for marketing purposes because most people have no idea about accounting terms, but it’s not something we like to see. They even take it a step further and say that they are “audited monthly by KPMG.”

The next paragraph then states it’s a “monthly assurance report,” which is accurate. 

Who Founded poundtoken?

We cannot find exact information on who founded poundtoken. However, we do know that Alan Sun is the CEO, Michael Crosbie is the Chief Business Officer (CBO), and Christian Walker is the head of partnerships. 

These names do appear to match up with real people associated with the project. 

This is something that we really like to see. If this project had anonymous founders, then it would be extremely suspicious. 

What We Like About poundtoken

There are a lot of things to like about poundtoken. This is one project doing a very good job at launching a stablecoin. This section will detail just some of the things that we really like about this project. 

KPMG Issues Monthly Assurance Reports

The first thing we like about poundtoken is they have KPMG issue monthly assurance reports. These reports basically confirm that everything they say on the website in relation to their finances is accurate. 

If only Tether could do that. 

Publicly Viewable Bank Balance

The other aspect of poundtoken we absolutely love is that they have a publicly viewable bank balance. They do this by having Chainlink oracles monitor poundtoken’s reserve bank balance. 

This is, in our opinion, the best way to do things to reassure users that the token is actually backed 1:1. 

Our One Issue with poundtoken

We have some issues with poundtoken that are worth mentioning. This is not a project that someone can invest into like a typical cryptocurrency. 

It’s a stablecoin. Just think of it as a more transparent version of Tether. That said, it is possible to use this token for transactions. 

Anyway, here are some issues we have with this project. 

They Claim They’re Audited

The only real issue we have with poundtoken is that they claim they are audited. Again, this is not as big of a deal as it sounds. It’s likely that the marketing department got confused when writing the copy on the website. 

That said, we would still like to see them correct the problem on the website. It’s misleading to state that the company is “Big 4 Audited” when they do not receive an audit. An audit and assurance report are two very different things. 

It just looks sloppy to anyone that has accounting experience. 

Is poundtoken Safe to Use?

From what we can tell, it looks like poundtoken is safe to use. The team is mostly marketing this token to business clients at the current moment, which we find an odd strategy. 

Anyway, we have not read any reports about people not being able to redeem their tokens for fiat currency. 

If the assurance report and Chainlink oracles are to be believed, then it would appear that poundtoken is backed 1:1. We have no reason to doubt that the Chainlink oracle is inaccurate nor that KPMG is lying in their assurance report. 

Where to Buy GBPT?

The two exchanges that we see GBPT for sale on are Bittrex and Gate.io. It’s probably available on Uniswap as well, but it’s best to buy it on a centralized exchange as decentralized exchanges are not official exchanges that poundtoken sells GBPT on at the moment. 

Final Thoughts

That sums it up for everything you need to know about poundtoken. This project definitely has potential and its serving a somewhat underserved market with a GBP stablecoin. 

We love the transparency they bring to stablecoins and wish that more of the centralized stablecoins would be as transparent as poundtoken.