Grandshores Technology Group, a Hong Kong-based public blockchain investment company, is planning to raise $12.7 million through a digital token fund in an effort to finance a yen-backed cryptocurrency project.

More Stable Coins Into The Crypto Pot

Grandshores Technology was initially a contracting company that pivoted to the blockchain industry after being acquired by SHIS, a corporation owned by Singapore-based investor, Yongjie Yao, who is also in charge of the Xiongan Global Blockchain Innovation Fund.

Yao made his name in the technology industry through being a founding partner of the 10 billion-yuan Hangzhou Grandshores Fund, backed by both the Hangzhou government and famed Bitcoin investor, Li Xiaolai.

In order to gain funding, the company will be tapping qualified investors located outside of China to raise funds denominated in Tether, which is backed by USD. The funds will be used to help launch a Japanese yen-backed stable coin, which will operate similarly to Tether.

While speaking about Grandshores’ new investment, Yao explained that the blockchain industry is on track to disrupt the current financial system, and that there is a significant amount of potential for many small and undervalued projects.

Yao said that:

“Blockchain will become the mainstream technology in the next three to five years. We are entering the next stage of blockchain evolution, a stage which is akin to when computer operating system was transiting from MS-DOS [disk operating system] to MS-Windows.”

Yao also said that the fund is currently working with a mid-tier Japanese bank in order to provide the means for a yen-backed stable coin. He also expressed immense confidence in the demand for a yen-backed stable coin, mentioning that the fund wants to also launch stable coins denominated in the Hong Kong dollar and the Australian dollar.

The Rise of the Stable Coin

Stable coins have been surging in popularity, especially ones denominated in the US dollar, due to the perceived issues surrounding Tether, which is currently the most popular stable coin worldwide.

Unlike their highly volatile counterparts, stable coins offer a refuge for cryptocurrency investors, and are popularly utilized by cryptocurrency exchanges that want to allow investors to trade against fiat currencies, without having to receive the proper licensing to allow investors to trade against real fiat pairs.

Yao said that the demand for a yen-backed stable coin is from both cryptocurrency traders and exchanges, as many exchanges only offer the ability to trade against cryptocurrency pairs, like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.

“We believe cryptocurrency traders and exchanges will be potential takers of these stablecoin,” he said.

Although countries like Japan, Hong Kong, and Australia don’t have stable coins denominated in their natural fiat-trading pairs, competition for stable coins is continuously ramping up in the United States, with competitors like the Winklevoss brothers and IBM all trying to provide stable coins that will be widely adopted as an alternative to Tether.

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