Circle’s New VC Fund Backs $4.4M Round for Japanese Yen-Pegged Stablecoin Issuer

JPYC, the issuer of a Japanese yen-pegged stablecoin, has raised ¥500 million (about $4.43 million) in a Series A round led by Headline Asia with participation from Circle’s Circle Ventures fund in the latter’s initial capital deployment.

• Tokyo-based JPYC issues the stablecoin as a prepaid payment instrument in Japan. The company plans to use the funding round to strengthen its position as a JPYC issuer, improve operation and development capabilities and acquire prepaid payment instruments for third-party businesses.

• “Headline Asia is confident that the era of Web 3.0, built on blockchain technology and the token economy, is coming. Meanwhile, we are concerned about the current situation in Japan, where individuals and institutional investors have yet to get involved in the token economy, which is dominated by cryptocurrencies,” said Headline Asia Partner Akio Tanaka in the press release.

• “JPYC represents the kind of innovation and project Circle Ventures aims to support. The team at JPYC is thinking outside the box to adhere to regulatory framework parameters while still tapping into the value that digital currency can offer the world,” said Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire in the release.

• Circle had an active news day on Tuesday, announcing Circle Ventures earlier in the day and later revealing plans for a new hub in Singapore.

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