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.
Blockstream has been working closely with Digital Garage for over a year on expanding Bitcoin and blockchain usage in Japan, and the stake in Crypto Garage marks a further strengthening of the relationship between the two teams. As part of the partnership deal, Blockstream has made an equity investment in Crypto Garage and is providing technical expertise to the company’s projects.
Liquid-Based SETTLENET Revealed
In addition to our joint venture announcement today, Crypto Garage has revealed SETTLENET, a suite of products, based on the Liquid Network, that will enhance trading efficiency and security for participants in the Bitcoin market.
The first exciting application to launch on SETTLENET will be a Japanese yen stablecoin (“JPY-Token”) which can be traded for bitcoin pegged to the Liquid sidechain (L-BTC) using atomic swaps. This will provide participating exchanges and trading desks in Japan with a rapid, secure, and private platform for completing their transactions while significantly minimizing counterparty risk.
SETTLENET has received the highest levels of clearance to operate in one of Japan’s regulatory sandboxes, with approvals from both the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) as well as the Cabinet Secretariat. As such, the Liquid-based JPY-Token is well positioned to become one of the key drivers of Bitcoin liquidity in the Japanese market.
New Investment
Blockstream took an additional $10 million in strategic investment from Digital Garage, alongside the joint venture. This investment will provide us with additional resources to ramp up development on multiple products–such as Liquid, the Cryptocurrency Data Feed, and new product lines. Expect even more exciting developments in the coming months!
We’re proud to have a partner like Digital Garage [TYO:4819] working with us, not only in helping us expand into the Japanese market, but also in delivering practical new applications for the Liquid Network and its users.
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GET INVOLVED
Find out more about how to become a member of the Liquid Network and start trading L-BTC and assets like JPY-Token by dropping us an email to business@blockstream.com.