Demand for Japanese yen stablecoins is ‘only a matter of time’ — Brad Garlinghouse

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse believes that Japan presents a promising market for stablecoins and anticipates strong demand for a Japanese yen stablecoin. However, he refrained from making any promises about a Ripple stablecoin within Japan yet until the firm launches one in the United States.

“People will want to hold yen stablecoins, and I think that is only a matter of time,” Garlinghouse said in an interview with Bloomberg’s The China Show on Sept. 7.

Garlinghouse says entrepreneurship is thriving in Japan

Garlinghouse explained that while he finds Japan to be a “conservative market in some ways,” he also finds the market to be “really healthy” in other respects. The Ripple head boss went on to explain that, compared to other countries, Japan has “leaned in” on offering regulatory clarity and legislation on both stablecoins and cryptocurrencies.

“That has really allowed entrepreneurship and investment to really thrive here in Japan,” Garlinghouse stated. He reiterated that the US has “certainly been behind” other countries, including Japan, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

He suggested that Ripple will first focus on launching a stablecoin in the US before considering Japan.

Ripple to focus on US dollar stablecoin first, no plans for yen stablecoin yet

“A key issue that we will continue to make sure we are partnered with US regulators before we go live with the stablecoin[…] We will first issue it in the US, but we think there is opportunity for stablecoins globally, and certainly in Japan,” he explained.

“We have always been consistent to do everything we can to launch this year,” he said.

On Aug. 9, Ripple Labs announced the first tests of its United States dollar-pegged stablecoin, Ripple Labs’ Ripple USD (RLUSD), on the XRP ledger and Ethereum mainnets, with plans to deploy the fiat-backed token on additional blockchain networks in the future.

Meanwhile, on Sept. 5, Cointelegraph reported that Japan’s three largest banks, Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and Mizuho Bank, are backing Datachain’s new stablecoin platform Project Pax to facilitate cross-border business settlements.