Helix brings Japanese Yen on-chain

The tokenized Yen will be backed 1-to-1 by Japanese Yen

February 6, 2024 10:10 am

Hit1912/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

A tokenized version of the Japanese Yen will land on-chain today.

Helix, a decentralized exchange on Injective, will launch the Japanese Yen (JPY) forex pair on its platform, making it one of the first exchanges to introduce the Yen onto the blockchain.

The Japanese yen is the fourth most-traded currency in the world, with USD, Euro and Sterling being in the top three.

Chris Choi, the head of product at Helix, told Blockworks that there is currently little to no outlet for acquiring tokenized Yen, which sees billions in trade volume daily.

He notes that this latest integration will enable dapp users on Injective to gain exposure to an on-chain foreign exchange (FX) in a decentralized way.

“In the global FX landscape, USD, Euro and Yen stand out as the top three currencies in terms of volumes. While USD and Euro have significant representation in the crypto space, the Yen has been underserved,” Choi said.

The tokenized JPY is made in collaboration with decentralized exchange Cables Finance, which has been working on integrating traditional finance currencies onto the blockchain.

Each tokenized Yen will be backed 1-to-1 by the Japanese Yen, which will be held by a trust for the issuance.

Helix is not the only team that has been looking at ways to bring Japanese stablecoins on-chain. Earlier last year TOKI, a cross-chain bridge provider, revealed that it had been exploring ways to bring fully collateralized Japanese stablecoins to the Cosmos ecosystem with Noble, a token issuance protocol.

The project was backed by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking (MUFG), one of the largest Japanese banks, and received support from over 200 Japanese companies, including SMBC and Mizuho.

The project has yet to launch mainnet, though it is predicted to occur between Q4 of 2023 and Q1 of 2024.

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