Launch of World's first Yen stablecoin now on Liquid crypto exchange

GMO-Z.com Trust Company, Inc. ("GMO Trust"), the USA based regulated stablecoin subsidiary of Japanese financial services and internet conglomerate GMO Internet Group, and Liquid ("Quoine Pte. Ltd."), one of the world's largest cryptocurrency-fiat exchange platforms (ranked among the top 10 regulated cryptocurrency exchanges globally), has partnered to bring "GYEN," the world's first regulated Japanese Yen (JPY) stablecoin, and U.S. dollar (USD) stablecoin "ZUSD" to Liquid's exchange to create the first synthetic, fully digital USD/JPY pair.

Liquid is set to launch a new clearinghouse for regulated, global fiat-backed stablecoins to support growing demand for stablecoin swaps, FX trading, and expansion of digital fiat onramps/offramps. Trading pairs featuring stablecoins and other popular tokens such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) have increased dramatically in popularity this year, however, the market is missing a clearinghouse to easily swap between stablecoins backed by major global currencies. As two of the largest digital asset companies in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, Marisa McKnight, Head of Partner Solutions at Liquid, commented "Creating a marketplace to actively trade regulated stablecoins brings us closer to capturing a purely digital version of FX, which provides new opportunities to our trading partners."

Liquid has entered a strategic partnership to leverage GMO Trust's regulated, financial-grade GYEN and ZUSD stablecoins to create the first synthetic, digital USD/JPY pair, the second most-traded forex pair in the world.

"Liquid recognizes that until now, there has not been a regulated, fiat-backed digital version of JPY, which is our top fiat market," said Seth Melamed, COO of Liquid. "Unifying our BTC/JPY order books with GYEN is set to increase global participation and liquidity, with traders enjoying the speed and efficiency offered by improved digital fiat options."

Liquid currently has the largest BTC/JPY market globally, consistently averaging $300 million in volume every 24 hours. Given the demand in the marketplace for a digital version of JPY, the exchange has decided to combine its BTC order book with GYEN/JPY, which will optimize liquidity and provide a fully digital way to access this market. Users depositing GYEN on Liquid's exchange will be credited 1:1 with JPY. This provides significant potential to connect local traders who leverage JPY with global cryptocurrency traders.

"Our partnership with Liquid integrates GYEN into the largest BTC/JPY liquidity pool in the space, providing incredible depth to this market," said Ken Nakamura, President and CEO of GMO-Z.com Trust Company, Inc. "We are excited to expand the digital asset market with financial-grade stablecoins, while also having them be seamlessly traded with other digital currencies."