Cardano has announced its first fully fiat-backed stablecoin, the USDM, which is pegged to the US dollar, becoming another player in the $146 billion stablecoin market. Founded by Mehen Finance, the stablecoin can be minted or exchanged for USD and existing Cardano-based synthetic stablecoins like DJED and iUSD. Matthew Plomin, co-founder of Mehen, stated that launching the stablecoin project was not easy as they struggled to find suitable US banking partners. They now utilize the services of the fintech company Plaid for minting and burning USDM against the US dollar.