Tether and the Government of Georgia to Launch GEL₮ Stablecoin (Tether)
Tether plans to launch GEL₮, a Georgian Lari stablecoin, with the support of the Government of Georgia, under Georgia’s new stablecoin framework, which was designed to achieve substantive compatibility with emerging U.S. stablecoin regulation. GEL₮ is intended to support cross-border commerce and domestic digital payments, but key design details remain undisclosed, including the legal issuer, reserve location, redemption mechanics and launch timeline. The initiative aligns with the National Bank of Georgia’s March rules on “stable virtual assets” that apply to registered virtual asset service providers and aim to improve consumer protection and risk management. GELT would join Tether’s growing set of non-dollar stablecoins alongside Mexican peso and offshore yuan tokens and a planned United Arab Emirates dirham token. [Tether]
Georgia Central Bank Update on CBDC Plans (NBG)
[August 7, 2025] In the 2025 edition of its 2023-2025 Supervisory Strategy, the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) provided an update on its plan to initiate a digital GEL central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot program. In collaboration with a technology partner selected by the NBG, practical use cases identified by the NBG will be tested, after which the digital GEL will be implemented in a real environment based on the insights gained from the pilot program. In November 2023, the NBG had selected Ripple as its digital GEL technology partner following a competition process, but given the long time between that announcement and the August 2025 update, one has to wonder whether Ripple is still in the picture. [NBG]
FYI I produce a monthly digest of digital fiat currency (DFC) developments exclusively for the official sector (e.g., central banks, ministries of finance and international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank)) plus academics and firms that are active in the DFC space (commercial banks, technology providers, consultants, etc.). (DFCs include central bank digital currency (CBDC), stablecoins and tokenized deposits.) It goes out via email on the first business day of every month, and if you’re interested in being on the mailing list, please email me at john@kiffmeister.com.
