$1 billion fund founders to launch Japanese yen-pegged stablecoin

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The founders of a $1 billion blockchain fund backed by the government of Hangzhou in China have announced plans for a new project that will launch a stablecoin backed by Japanese yen, the South China Morning Post reported.

Founder Yongjie Yao, of Xiong’An (Grandshores) Blockchain Fund, said that the project was already underway, with part finance raised from a fund promoted by another company he controls—Grandshores Technology.

The Hong Kong-listed company’s new digital token fund will reach out to accredited investors internationally, raising funds denominated in the U.S. dollar-backed Tether stablecoin. This will then be used to helping to finance the stablecoin’s development.

The plans come in the wake of the takeover of the Hong Kong-listed construction firm, formerly known as SHIS, which was rebranded as Grandshores Technology following the acquisition. This allowed a stock exchange listing by the back door for the firm, with the company then shifting its focus to exploring opportunities in the blockchain space.

According to Yongjie Yao, blockchain is set to become the mainstream technology in a matter of years.

“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 to MS-Windows,” Yao said, according to the news outlet.

The fund has access to 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) to invest in new blockchain projects, and is backed by the government of the Chinese city of Hangzhou, as well as a number of prolific Chinese cryptocurrency investors, such as Li Xiaolai.

Dubbed the Hangzhou Grandshores fund, Yao said they were already working with a ‘mid-tier’ Japanese bank to develop the stablecoin project. He said that he expected the stablecoin to be complete by early 2019 at the latest, with the fund planning to follow up with similar projects for the Australian dollar and the Hong Kong dollar.

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

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that are pegged to some other external asset, such as gold or a fiat currency. The yen stablecoin will be traded against Tether, offering an alternative option on cryptocurrency exchanges.