Japanese internet giant GMO has just announced plans to launch a new stablecoin backed by the Yen. The new coin will be called GMO Japanese Yen and is expected to arrive at some point in 2019. The company is already invested in mining hardware and cryptocurrency exchange businesses, and the launch of the coin will mark its third enterprise in cryptocurrency business.
Yen Backed Stablecoin in 2019
The announcement of a new stablecoin came on Tuesday, October 9th. The company unveiled their plans and has also announced that preparations for issuing a new digital currency have already started. According to GMO, GMO Japanese Yen (GJY) is to be launch via Z.com, and it will be backed by Japanese Yen.
This makes GMO another player in the Yen-pegged stablecoin market, as there are already several other companies with similar plans. GMO also revealed the goal behind this decision, stating that they plan to target international remittances.
At the moment, there are around 57 other stablecoins in the world, with 23 of them already being in circulation. However, according to GMO’s disclosure, GJY will be issued for the Asian region only. Masatoshi Kumagai, the founder and president of GMO, announced that the company already has trusted licenses and banks in Japan. This is why the new stablecoin will be issued in Asia. Additionally, since GMO has a bank in Japan, which is where it keeps its fiat assets, GJY will not have to face concerns that have been surrounding stablecoins like Tether.
Tether has lost a lot of support due to rumors that not all of its coins are backed by the USD. This has caused fear of owning worthless coins, and the stablecoin’s reputation has suffered as a result.
GMO aims to eliminate such fears with their own stablecoin. The company even noted that GJY will likely become an ideal currency. It will combine low fees, high creditworthiness, as well as the high speed of remittance.
GMO Internet Progresses Deeper into the Cryptocurrency World
GMO has made it’s intentions clear a long time ago, and ever since then, it made a significant progress in conquering the cryptocurrency world. Earlier this year, in July, GMO launched an online bank powered by blockchain technology. The project was a joint venture between Aozora Bank and several of GMO’s own subsidiaries.
Additionally, GMO itself has two other cryptocurrency-related businesses — the exchange launched in May 2017, and a mining business launched in December 2017. In their new announcement, they revealed plans to launch a new stablecoin. However, they also unveiled that they have been investigating and researching the possibility of using cryptocurrencies as settlement currencies. GMO’s main concern was whether this is possible — and practical — from the volatility viewpoint.
Additionally, GMO believes that stablecoins have a large potential to bring economic stability to numerous developing countries. In fact, they also believe that developed countries can benefit from introducing stablecoins as well.
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