Coinbase Pro Plans To Launch Japanese Yen-Pegged Stablecoin

Coinbase Pro is announcing plans to launch a stablecoin pegged to the Japanese yen, reportedly the first of its kind.

GYEN (GYEN) bills itself as the “first regulated digital [Japanese yen].” The project says it is 100% fiat-backed.

Coinbase first issued a press release earlier this week announcing Coinbase Pro’s plans to launch GYEN order books with the US dollar, euro and Tether (USDT).

However, Coinbase Pro later tweeted that the trading launch had been postponed.

“We have decided to move the launch of GYEN. At this time deposits and withdrawals are still available. We will provide an update as soon as possible and anticipate a launch next week.”

Despite billing itself as a yen-pegged stablecoin, GYEN briefly surged to an all-time high of $0.01477139 on Wednesday, far outpacing the yen’s value in relation to the US dollar. The digital asset has since come down in price, trading at $0.008761 at time of writing, and nearly identical to the yen’s value in dollar terms.

GYEN, the 1063rd-ranked digital asset by market cap, is not yet available on the Coinbase retail platform or the firm’s iOS and Android applications.

Coinbase’s chief executive Brian Armstrong said this summer that the exchange was hustling to list as many altcoins as possible.

“Reminder about how Coinbase lists assets: our goal is to list *every* asset where it is legal to do so.”

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