NEW YORK, March 3, 2021 — GMO Trust, a New York-based, regulated stablecoin subsidiary of Japanese financial services and internet conglomerate GMO Internet, and Liquid, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency-fiat exchange platforms (ranked among the top 10 regulated cryptocurrency exchanges globally), today announced their partnership to bring GYEN, the world’s first regulated Japanese yen stablecoin and U.S. dollar stablecoin ZUSD to Liquid’s exchange to create the first synthetic, fully digital USD/JPY pair.

Regulated stablecoin clearinghouse for world’s first synthetic, 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 Ether (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 region, 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.

Combining into a single order book: Liquid positioning GYEN with the same standing as JPY fiat

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 one-to-one with JPY. This provides significant potential to connect local traders who leverage JPY with global cryptocurrency traders. Learn more here about the GYEN and ZUSD listing on Liquid.

Quotes

“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, chief operating officer 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.”

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.”

“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.”

Please note that due to regulatory restrictions, GYEN and ZUSD will not be offered to Japanese residents.

About GMO Internet Group and GMO Trust

GMO Internet Group, based in Tokyo, is a global market leader in the internet infrastructure, internet finance and the digital asset space since its inception in 1991. It operates the world’s largest online FX trading platform, an internet bank, a cryptocurrency exchange, a cryptocurrency mining operation, a payment gateway and a regulated stablecoin. Parent company GMO Internet is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. For more information, please visit https://www.gmo.jp/en/.

GMO Trust, based in New York, is a limited purpose trust company, regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services. Issuing the world’s first regulated JPY stablecoin GYEN, GMO Trust also offers a USD stablecoin, called ZUSD. GMO-Z.com Trust Company is on a mission to bring traditional finance into the digital age with blockchain services. For more information on GMO-Z.com Trust Company Inc., visit https://stablecoin.z.com/.

About Liquid

Founded in 2014, Liquid is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency-fiat exchange platforms serving millions of customers worldwide. Liquid is consistently ranked among the top 10 regulated cryptocurrency exchanges globally, based on daily traded spot volume with deep BTC/JPY liquidity, offering one of the best user experiences in service levels and security in the industry. Liquid proudly serves its customers from all around the world. Since hitting its first milestone of 100,000 users on Dec. 8, 2017, it has continued to grow ever since. For more information on Liquid, visit https://www.liquid.com/.

Press Inquiries

JConnelly:

Ryan Graham

TEL: 862-777-4274

Email: [email protected]

GMO Trust:

GMO-Z.com Trust Company, Inc.

Email: [email protected]

Liquid:

Marisa McKnight

Email: [email protected]