The Glo Foundation is thrilled to announce that we’ve selected Brale, Inc. to serve as issuer of the Glo Dollar.

Brale is a financial technology platform that enables the issuance and redemption of new digital assets on existing blockchains.

The Glo Dollar (USDGLO) is a stablecoin that funds public goods.

Why we’re working with an issuance partner (versus issuing ourselves)

The short answer: it’s much faster. In the US, you can’t “just launch” a stablecoin—it’s subject to regulations. To create a stablecoin, there are two routes:

1. Issue the stablecoin yourself. This requires getting the necessary licenses and exemptions on a state-by-state basis.
   
   
2. Work with a partner that issues the stablecoin—one that already has the necessary licenses and exemptions.

Route #1 can take years and cost millions of dollars. The earlier we can get Glo Dollar out in the world, the earlier we can grow adoption and start funding public goods. That’s why we chose route #2.

How the Glo Foundation leverages Brale

The Brale platform allows us to get Glo Dollar out in the world quickly, with no upfront technology build and minimal legal and compliance overhead.

Brale handles the regulatory and risk management aspects of issuance, redemption and management of the cash and assets backing the Glo Dollar. 

The Glo Foundation continues our efforts on building our community, building out partnerships, and spreading the word on this new form of philanthropy. We focus on growing the adoption of the Glo Dollar, so we can generate as much money as possible for public good and charities.

Why we chose Brale

The Glo Foundation was looking for the following things in its ideal partner:

1. ^{A trustworthy stablecoin issuer} that manages reserves transparently and conservatively. The most important thing about a stablecoin is that it can be trusted to be stable.
2. ^{The ability to launch fast}, preferably at low upfront cost. We have a startup mentality and want to prove the Glo Dollar model quickly and in a lean way.
3. ^{Aligned incentives and a great team to work with}. This partnership is crucial to Glo Dollar’s success, so we need a collaborative partner we can rely on.

Brale meets our needs:

1. Brale will back the Glo Dollar with just cash and US Government backed debt, such as Treasuries. They’ll publish monthly attestations, and they’ll allow us to audit the reserves.
2. Brale is ready to issue the Glo Dollar within the next couple of weeks. They’ve proven to be a fast-moving and collaborative team.
3. Brale understands our mission of bootstrapping Glo Dollar adoption to fund public goods. Our goals are aligned. If the Glo Dollar succeeds, it is a testament to the quality of Brale’s platform and services.

Brale will manage the Glo Dollar—here’s how

As issuer, Brale is responsible for the financial and compliance operations of Glo Dollar as prescribed by the regulating authorities. They’re responsible for maintaining adequate liquidity to meet redemption obligations and therefore have discretion over the allocation between cash and investments. 

The assets backing Glo Dollar will be managed conservatively and in compliance with all applicable regulation. Today, that means these assets will be held only in cash, cash equivalents, and short term US government backed debt, such as US Treasuries.  

The assets backing Glo Dollar will be held in accounts at US-based financial institutions and these accounts will be subject to monthly attestations by a third party Certified Public Accountant (CPA). The CPA will validate that assets equal to or greater than the issued amount of USDGLO are held in reserve, meaning they will confirm that for every 1 USDGLO in circulation, there’s at least $1 of assets in reserve. These attestations will include a breakdown of the reserve, meaning you can transparently expect to see $X in USD cash and cash equivalents and $Y in direct holdings of US government-backed debt such that the sum of these holdings is equal to or greater than the total amount of USDGLO.

Brale and Glo Foundation will share the earnings 

Brale understands our donor-funded model and supports us in our mission to fund public goods. We’ve secured the partnership with Brale under a fitting arrangement: generously low upfront costs for the Glo Foundation and compelling revenue sharing terms.

In this arrangement, Brale initially retains 100% of the earnings for the first $2M of Glo Dollar market cap, to keep our operating costs low while we build early demand. As market cap grows, the Glo Foundation will receive an increasing share of these earnings, enabling us to grow together.

Our aim is to scale to the point where the Glo Foundation receives the majority of the earnings of the Glo Dollar reserves. We aim to get there within 2024. The faster Glo Dollar market cap grows, the more quickly we can do it. You can help us get there by spreading the word and contributing to the market cap.

The Glo Foundation donates the revenue it receives from the assets backing the Glo Dollar to fund public goods. This means that the social impact of holding Glo Dollar gets better at higher levels of adoption.

What this means for Glo Dollar

We’re excited to tap Brale to launch Glo Dollar much earlier than would otherwise be possible. 

But working with an issuance partner definitely presents a big change from how we’ve described Glo Dollar, its reserves, and its social impact in the past.

Here are the key differences:

1. We previously said that all earnings generated from the Glo Dollar reserve would flow to charitable causes. This is not the case anymore. Only the portion that the Glo Foundation receives will flow to charitable causes and public goods.
2. The Glo Foundation will not directly decide on how the Glo Dollar reserve assets are managed—this is Brale’s responsibility. We’re confident in Brale’s commitment to transparency and openness to feedback and wishes from the community. 
3. Brale has agreed to have three team members be a signer on the multisignature wallets controlling the mint and burn actions, to ensure the amount in circulation is accurate, which will now need a 4/6 majority sign-off to submit a transaction.

^{We’re excited to begin this journey with Brale and can’t wait to kick start this new form of philanthropy}.

We’ll be launching soon, so stay tuned! 

If you're a US-based business looking to buy Glo Dollars, you can start onboarding with Brale today. See https://brale.xyz/stablecoins/USDGLO