Fully-backed New Zealand dollar ($NZD) stablecoin is launched

The new stablecoin is backed 1:1 by the New Zealand Dollar and was initially deployed on the Ethereum blockchain

Techemynt, a Financial Service Provider registered in New Zealand, yesterday announced the launch of $NZDs – the first stablecoin to be backed 1:1 by the New Zealand Dollar. Techemynt’s Executive Director is Fran Strajnar, who also founded crypto data infrastructure company Brave New Coin and digital asset investment firm Techemy Capital.

Strajnar explained, “Between the popularity of the New Zealand Dollar and the proliferation of cryptocurrency, Techemynt felt it was an ideal time to fill the gap in the market and lead the creation of a NZD-based stablecoin. After nearly a year of development, $NZDs is now first to fully execute and deliver on the promise of bringing a New Zealand Dollar stablecoin to the world. We’ve worked extensively with our top-tier partners to ensure $NZDs builds upon the best aspects of existing stablecoins while adhering to New Zealand’s legal requirements.”

Stablecoins combine the stability of fiat with the flexibility of cryptocurrency and have gained a lot of traction in the last few years, with the most popular stablecoin – USDT – having a market cap of $37.5 billion. Currently, the New Zealand Dollar is the world’s tenth most traded currency, and the new stablecoin will bring utility for remittance, arbitrage and digital payments.

Initially, $NZDs will be minted and exist on the Ethereum blockchain, with the possibility of expanding to other blockchains in the future. $NZDs development and ongoing code management will be handled by Blockchain Labs, who have been responsible for some of the largest smart contract audits.

$NZDs will be fully collateralised as Techemynt intends to hold enough cash and cash equivalent assets to fully cover all outstanding $NZDs tokens. It will also have rigorous management, transparency and governance policies.

Primarily, $NZDs will be restricted to buyers wishing to purchase at least NZ $100,000 worth, who will have to complete Customer Due Diligence checks to comply with Techemynt’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) obligations. The stablecoin will also be made available on secondary markets such as the Bittrex-powered cryptocurrency exchange Dassetx.com.

Techemynt predicts that $NZDs holders will comprise Forex and crypto traders, crypto funds and investors, and eventually, merchants and everyday consumers. Planned future innovations for $NZDs include a Uniswap listing, making $NZDs available for earning yield on decentralised finance (DeFi) platforms and developing the technology to facilitate merchant payments using $NZDs.