Japan’s GMO Internet to Unveil Yen-Pegged Stablecoin in 2019

Japanese tech giant GMO Internet Co. Ltd affirmed plans to launch a stablecoin pegged to the Japanese yen. GMO, which stepped into the Japanese cryptocurrency sector in May last year, aims to start issuing tokens, dubbed GMO Japanese Yen (GJY), in the next (2019) financial year.

The news marks the possibility of an additional player in the yen-pegged stablecoin market, with many other corporations indicating their interest to introduce assets of their own in the past few months. GMO affirmed the main motivation behind its determination was to target global remittances.

GMO founder and President Masatoshi Kumagai said “We have banks and trust licenses in Japan, so we will issue (GJY) in Asia, but we can store assets in Japan as well.”

Masatoshi Kumagai further stated “If that happens, everyone will not be worried like with Tether; it can be said that GMO has a bank there and keeps fiat there.”

Tether, a USD-backed stablecoin, has confronted rumors that it does not include sufficient fiat reserves to back its token issuances. In June, an informal audit cited that Tether’s token issuances are upheld by the suitable number of dollar holdings, with the company’s bank accounts not named.

GMO Internet also stated that GJY was “highly likely to be an ideal currency that combines high creditworthiness, low fees and speed of remittance.”

GMO further said “By issuing the yen-pegged currency, GMO Internet will continue to support borderless transactions with creditworthiness.”

In July, GMO unveiled its blockchain-powered online bank, a joint venture between a number of of the company’s subsidiaries and Aozora Bank. In the U.S., both Gemini and Paxos last month affirmed they would issue USD-backed stablecoins.

More recently, PwC declared it would offer tech proficiency to decentralized lending platform Cred to bring transparency to their USD-backed stablecoin. Kumagai added that GMO would look to list GJY on “multiple” international exchanges.