In a similar manner, Xiong’An blockchain fund founders, aided by the Chinese city government of Hangzhou, are working to launch a Japanese Yen backed stable coin.
The South China Morning Post has reported that the work on the yen pegged stable coin project has already started. This was confirmed by Yao Yongjie, a founding member of the Blockchain Fund. The developer team looks forward to complete and launch the Yen pegged stable coin by the end of 2018 or latest by early 2019.
The report further states that Grandshores Technology, another company chaired by Yao Yongjie, was recently listed in Hong Kong via a reverse buyout of SHIS — a Singapore based construction firm, which is also preparing to generate funding to the tune of $12.7 million (~HK$100 million) to assist finance the stable coin project.
Yao further stated that the fund is getting in touch with accredited investors who reside outside China to assist with funding for the project. The fund is currently accepting financial backing in Tether – the crypto currency pegged to the U.S. dollar.
The report further states that the blockchain fund has joined hands with a mid-tier Japanese bank for the project. However, the bank’s name was not revealed. Going forward stable coins pegged to the Australian and Hong Kong dollars could also be developed, according to Yao.
Yao is also the head of Tunlan Capital, a Hangzhou based Investment firm which established Grandshores Blockchain Fund. The fund was launched in collaboration with Li Xiaolai, a Chinese Bitcoin tycoon and the local government.
The blockchain fund, launched in April 2018, has $1.6 billion currently available to invest in innovative startups. Crypto specialists believe stable coins could have a lasting impact on the crypto sector.
“Stablecoins are what allow us to fully realize the promise of blockchain technology. Any application which requires a low threshold of volatility to be viable on a blockchain like consumer loans, simply they cannot be denominated in a currency which fluctuates 10–20 percent in a day, like Bitcoin and Ether.”
“If you’re using Bitcoin to send a remittance from one country to another, there’s a good chance that the price movement over the period of one block confirmation (how long it takes the blockchain to include your transaction) will be larger than the fees charged by Western Union or PayPal.”