First Digital USD
C
FDUSD is a stablecoin issued by First Digital Labs, which is a part of Hong Kong-based First Digital Group.
First Digital Labs is not a regulated issuer of stablecoins or digital assets.
FDUSD is backed by USD cash deposits (79%) and US T-Bills (20%) with a maturity of less than 3 months. These assets are held by banks and custodians in Hong Kong, Switzerland, and Australia.
Although the reserves are held in custody by a Hong-Kong trust, we believe these reserves are not bankruptcy-remote. In the event of bankruptcy of the issuer or its holding company, users’ funds may not be isolated from the liquidation process.
FDUSD meets the bare minimum requirements to achieve a passing grade.
At present, FDUSD lacks meaningful utility and is appropriate for those who wish to benefit from Binance's Zero Trading Fee promotion on the BTC/FDUSD pair. For all other users, safer and/or more liquid alternatives exist.
FDUSD's rating can be improved to a B- by:
being regulated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority for the issuance and management of stablecoins.
First Digital USD
Stability
Moderately Stable
Moderately Stable
The Stability factor is evaluated on the following:
1. Reserves Management - Quality, quantity, storage and segregation of reserve assets
2. Market Feedback - Indicators of market's confidence in a stablecoin derived from price and trade data
3. Mechanism - Stabilization methods that protect the stablecoin
First Digital USD
Management
Very Low Risk
Very Low Risk
The Management factor is evaluated on the following:
1. Restrictions - What deterrents exist to prevent key personnel of stablecoin projects from unethical and illegal behavior?
2. Negative Track Record - Have key personnel been involved in scams, frauds or other illegal activities?
First Digital USD
Implementation
Not Assessed
Not Assessed
This factor aims to assess risks arising from technical implementations – i.e, smart contract code and oracles. It is currently not assessed, but we plan for it to be evaluated in the future.
First Digital USD
Decentralization
High Risk
High Risk
The Decentralization factor is evaluated on the following:
1. Platform Censorship Risk
2. Custodian Risk
3. Type of Collateral
4. Diversified Voting Power
5. User Censorship Risk
First Digital USD
Governance
Moderate Risk
Moderate Risk
The Governance factor for fiat-backed stablecoins is evaluated on the following:
1. Holder Protection - What rules, statutes or code exist to protect interests of stablecoin holders?
2. Reserves Verification - What checks are done to ensure existence of reserves?
3. Redemptions - Do issuers have transparent and reasonable redemption terms?
First Digital USD
Externals
Not Assessed
Not Assessed
This factor seeks to incorporate external feedback mechanisms such as market and social sentiment into our internal ratings. It is currently not assessed, but we plan for it to be evaluated in the future.