Blockstream, the company behind the Liquid Network and Bitcoin Satellite, has partnered with two of Japan’s leading heavyweights Digital Garage and Tokyo Tanshi to roll out a Yen-pegged stable coin, the JPY-TOKEN. With a biting bear market, this is a step in the right direction and it is the kind of solutions that are on demand regardless of the volatility.

In acknowledging the partnership, Blockstream in a blog post said:

“Today we’re happy to share that Blockstream has entered a joint venture with Japanese fintech industry heavyweights Digital Garage and Tokyo Tanshi. The joint venture, called Crypto Garage, is dedicated to building Bitcoin and blockchain solutions for the Japanese institutional market.”

By entering into a joint venture with the $1 billion Digital Garage and forming Crypto Garage Inc with facilitation from Tokyo Tanshi which Samson Mow of Blockstream says is one of the largest inter-dealers in Japan, Blockstream hopes to integrate the stable coin JPY-TOKEN with SETTLENET. The US based company has made a significant investment in Crypto Garage and with the partnership, they will be tasked with providing technical guidance of all projects. In return, Digital Garage invested $10 million in Blockstream. With the additional liquidity injection, Blockstream plans to ramp up “ramp up development on multiple products–such as Liquid, the Cryptocurrency Data Feed, and new product lines”.

According to Mow, the chief Strategy Officer at Blockstream, by the stable coin not only shielding market participants but acting as an asset within SETTLENET, there will be enhanced security and more so efficiency for Bitcoin traders. SETTLENET is a “a suite of products, based on the Liquid Network” which has the approvals from the highest echelons of Japanese regulators to operate and achieve their objective of being the main liquidity drivers in the expanding Bitcoin market. It is via SETTLENET that JPY-TOKEN can be atomic swapped for L-BTC. L-BTC are issued on the Liquid Network in a “peg-in process”, backed 1:1 with Bitcoin, verifiable and redeemable on the Bitcoin main chain from where the Liquid Network has been built on.

This is how the JPY-TOKEN and L-BTC atomic Swap happens:

The stable coin will run on the Liquid Network which is described as “an inter-exchange settlement network linking together cryptocurrency exchanges and institutions around the world, enabling faster Bitcoin transactions and the issuance of digital assets”. Basically, Liquid does complement the Lightning Network and was launched in Sep 27, 2018, specifically for “high value transfers”, not micropayments.

With the stable coin rolling out without brushing shoulders with keen Japanese regulators, Liquid with the operating as billed and easily becoming “a blockchain for exchanges, brokers, and market makers that enables fast, private Bitcoin transactions with other members of the network.”

Here’s what supporters had to say:

and on how Liquid, as an asset is attractive:

Explainer video courtesy of: Bitcoin For Beginners

Do you think this partnership is worth it? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comment section