Auckland firm launches NZ-dollar-backed 'stablecoin' cryptocurrency

Business

An offshoot of Auckland-based digital assets company Techemy has announced what it says is the first New Zealand dollar 'stablecoin', backed 1-for-1 by Kiwi dollars

11th Mar 21, 10:34am by David Hargreaves

An Auckland firm's launching what is says is the first New Zealand dollar 'stablecoin' cryptocurrency.

Techemynt, a recently set up offshoot of existing digital assets company Techemy, says the new coins, called $NZDs will be backed one-for-one by actual New Zealand dollars.

Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency backed by a reserve asset, such as fiat currency or gold.

"The New Zealand dollar is currently the 10th most-traded currency in the world and commands immense trust globally. As a blockchain-based stablecoin, $NZDs combines the stability and value of the New Zealand Dollar with the intrinsic utility of cryptocurrency to allow arbitrage, remittance, and digital payments, while positioning the New Zealand dollar as a prominent participant in the global digital asset economy," a statement from Techemynt said.

Techemy was founded and is led by Fran Strajnar, described in his company's literature as a "a multi-disciplined entrepreneur and blockchain evangelist".

Strajnar said between the popularity of the New Zealand Dollar and the proliferation of cryptocurrency, "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.”

He said $NZDs is backed 1:1 with physical New Zealand Dollars in a cash and cash-equivalent treasury. $NZDs will have "rigorous governance, management and transparency policies focusing on operations and compliance day-to-day".

Issued by Techemynt, $NZDs will be made directly available to customers who wish to acquire NZ$100,000 (or more) of $NZDs tokens.

$NZDs will also be made available on secondary markets starting with the NZ-based cryptocurrency exchange Dassetx.com and with plans for it to be later offered on other exchanges as well.

The company says anyone purchasing $NZDs directly from Techemynt will be required to complete customer due diligence checks in line with Techemynt’s Financial Service Provider obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terroism Act 2009 (AML/CFT) of New Zealand.

The company says users of $NZDs are likely to include forex and crypto traders, crypto funds, investors, and eventually merchants and everyday consumers.

"Techemy also envisages that $NZDs will be able to be transferred to DeFi platforms to earn yield. Currently DeFi platforms have the potential to provide participants with much higher yields compared to traditional bank accounts."

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40 Comments

by Carlos67 | 11th Mar 21, 10:57am 1615413449

Gee not another Ponzi, I think there are enough already on the go.

by Contrarian | 11th Mar 21, 9:09pm 1615450162

Is this an investment or a medium of exchange of value ? By saying it is 1:1 NZD it does not seem to have any investment angle. If it is a medium of exchange, what is the market for that ?

by Dan122 | 16th Mar 21, 5:34pm 1615869297

For spending. If NZDC is pegging the dollar then we can change our crypto into a taxable form just before we wish to spend it in order to get the maximum value from a inflating asset to a nzdc.

by ShoreThing | 11th Mar 21, 10:59am 1615413593

For some reason I was under the impression a key benefit of cryptocurrency was that it was impervious to manipulation in the same way fiat is with money printing and devaluation. Why would anyone want a coin that has all of the problems the NZD has?

by Lanthanide | 11th Mar 21, 11:03am 1615413795

DeFi.

This coin is really racing against the RBNZ creating an NZD CBDC though. I think if the RBNZ gets their ass into gear and does something within 18 months, this coin is probably doomed. But if it takes them longer than that, this coin will probably get enough legs to survive in the medium term.

by b21 | 11th Mar 21, 11:07am 1615414068

For some speculating with crypto assets it may make sense to keep your wealth on a stable crypto in times when the market is going down and transferring back to your NZD bank account might not be feasible or involve extra fees. Also some platforms offer higher interest rates than commercial banks for crypto and this is a way to avoid high fluctuations in value.

by J.C. | 11th Mar 21, 11:30am 1615415427

So why not use a liquid USD-backed stablecoin? What advantages can you see here? The fact that it's NZD backed is meaningless. It still needs to be converted back to fiat before it can be deposited into a NZ bank account.

by b21 | 11th Mar 21, 11:35am 1615415724

I guess mostly matter of preference but also to avoid fluctuations between NZD and other currencies.

by J.C. | 11th Mar 21, 12:00pm 1615417228

I guess mostly matter of preference but also to avoid fluctuations between NZD and other currencies

You can hedge against NZD with other fiat currencies. Why do you think the crypto world needs an NZD stablecoin?

by b21 | 11th Mar 21, 12:07pm 1615417624

I didn't say it does. Probably it does not need any of the current cryptocurrencies as they exist right now.

by Lanthanide | 11th Mar 21, 12:36pm 1615419389

Certainly transacting back and forth between a cryptocurrency and an NZD stablecoin is easier for tax purposes than transacating back and forth between that same crypto and a USD stablecon.

by Zack Brando | 11th Mar 21, 11:13am 1615414428

Let's see how this plays out.

by J.C. | 11th Mar 21, 11:27am 1615415243

Not really sure what the use case is here. The founder talks about earning higher yield on Defi. Yes, but who wants an NZD stablecoin and why?

by Berend de Boer | 11th Mar 21, 11:54am 1615416889

The use case is the word STABLE. As you know cryptocurrencies are volatile, as price is demand driven. Just like stocks, goes up and down a lot. So what do you do when you sell some of your crypto? Your intention is to wait out the market a bit, but get back in in a few weeks. Converting it back to NZD and then back to crypto is superannoying (and too much work frankly). So that's where stable coins come in. You can easily convert to a stablecoin cryptocurrency, and then back to Bitcoin.

So stable coins are just an easy way to temporary park your money.

But once NZD is in crypto you can use it for other purposes as well of course, you can lend to others (DeFi).

by J.C. | 11th Mar 21, 12:03pm 1615417380

Stablecoins exist. Why a NZD-backed stablecoin? What if nobody wants to trade it? No liquidity. You think that's a good thing just so you can fly the flag?

by Thinker | 11th Mar 21, 12:32pm 1615419167

What platform do you trade on Berend? ;)

Perfect explanation.

by RCD | 11th Mar 21, 3:26pm 1615429591

Yes a stablecoin is used by traders to temporarily step out of a market, re-assess before cashing out to fiat or re-investing. But that is why USDT exists and many others and there is no difference whatsoever in clearing USDT to $NZ than clearing NZDS to $NZ in terms of complexity or in terms of tax position. There is a difference if holding USDT until the $NZ/$US exchange rate moves in your favour and then converting to Fiat.

by iconoclast | 11th Mar 21, 11:42am 1615416140

Reading this promo
Can anyone explain how this would be any different than leaving your money in a Term Deposit?
If and when you get your money back you get tomorrows NZ $1
Same as a maturing TD

by Thinker | 11th Mar 21, 12:32pm 1615419122

Example I have $10,000 of Bitcoin in NZD equivelent. I believe the market is overpriced and I think its going to drop. I sell by Bitcoin to this NZD staplecoin that is a cryptocurrency. Now when Bitcoin drops to the price I want to buy I simply sell this and buy Bitcoin. The only fees I'm getting is the brokerage fees which is 0.5% usually of the $ amount. That is why Tether was created for that exact purpose. Its like fund managers having cash equivalents in their bank account and trading in the same currency. The comment above explains it perfectly.

by J.C. | 11th Mar 21, 1:21pm 1615422110

There has to be a demand for your NZD stablecoin for you to sell it. Why do you think the crypto world wants it?

by Pusheen | 11th Mar 21, 1:21pm 1615422062

The difference? is .. ta daa.. will be a lot easier for illegal activities, illicit drugs laundering.. not to mention.. of siphoning it from the tax man.
The day, the so called US of A, sniff that all these magical out of thin air coin, being used by Crims, launderer.. ouh oh.. this is a good one: Terrorism?
It's the last day of this technology will be around as try to be normal/legit - it's becoming underground small gambler, launderer, crims & terrorism.
Let's say Big $ terror support from country A, bought the coins then release it by their operator in country B/terror target, release the coins with 'loss' but still able to be use to buy stuff eg. from your local hardware store. You all see now? - all this magical coin is without control, they hide behind 'uncontrolled technology' how romantic, but we human evolve around control/regulatory means to save us .. from our self/chaos. No screening where money comes in/out?, not allow tax man to get a cut?, no policing?, .. imagine a wild west of 'Airline industries'..no regulation.

by J.C. | 11th Mar 21, 1:22pm 1615422145

Nonsense

by RCD | 11th Mar 21, 3:31pm 1615429889

Pusheen
you obviously have absolutely no idea of the subject at all
there is ZERO means to cheat the tax man in NZ when trading in a public blockchain token, every transaction is open to public view and in order to move funds in and out of your personal account all your details and your wallet ID are automatically transmitted to the IRD and they can track every item.

by Uh Oh | 11th Mar 21, 11:51am 1615416666

Lol... how is it illegal to counterfeit a country's currency, yet legal to create your own?

by Carlos67 | 11th Mar 21, 12:22pm 1615418551

Brilliant, yep just create something out of thin air and use your actual money to buy it. Clearly its a big enough loophole to fit the whole of New Zealand through it. Speculation has got out of control, money is being sucked out of the system into non productive assets and nobody actually wants to work for a living anymore.

by President of P… | 11th Mar 21, 12:44pm 1615419891

you mean something out of thin air like interest payable and mortgages themselves, NZ is already bound by that loophole by the banks

PS: Right hand lower corner of screen should have the time date and century you are in...

by ham n eggs | 11th Mar 21, 12:30pm 1615419048

because they have added the word Crypto to it

by Lanthanide | 11th Mar 21, 12:39pm 1615419572

With counterfeiting, you're creating fiat out of nothing.

Stable coins hold (in theory) $1 in actual cash reserves for every $1 they issue. So not the same as counterfeiting.

It's not really any different than buying a gift card from a particular company. Those are legal, so there's no reason a NZD stablecoin wouldn't be.

by Ezy | 11th Mar 21, 9:14pm 1615450465

For a financial website the lack of financial common sense in some of these comments is flabbergasting. What part of "nzd backed" token (dollar for dollar) doesn't make sense to you luddites? It is literally worth as much as the nz dollar. The only question of interest is, will there be demand for it? If it's easy to buy in nzd and widely accepted, I'll use it as a current account for my crypto purchases. But can't see exchanges piling in to setup trading pairs against it in a hurry. Especially when there's several usd tethers and exchanges own tokens like BNB. Unless I can use it to buy a wide range of tokens without having to do stepping stone trades into complimentary trade denominations it's worthless to me. The only angle I can see is if it gets treated differently for tax purposes in NZ. Then it would have a lot of utility.

by Galloleous | 12th Mar 21, 10:22am 1615497734

Exactly, I came here to LOL at the financially illiterate comments :P

by Galloleous | 12th Mar 21, 10:22am 1615497735

Exactly, I came here to LOL at the financially illiterate comments :P

by Pusheen | 11th Mar 21, 1:08pm 1615421301

Kiwi is really good at creating Ponzi, always is.. and will be, just google the past 20-30years how many of them managed to get slap in hands, whilst able to swindle millions upon millions - the New norm, of Nigerian type of scam/ponzi, a gem in the pacific, but soon will be the pain in the butt for OZ.

by Carlos67 | 11th Mar 21, 1:18pm 1615421906

Strange how all these Crypto's want your Fiat money though isn't it ? Whats the issue with a direct buy of a stable coin with Bitcoin for example or visa versa ? Cryptos are a perceived value with the actual value still linked to Fiat. It would only take the top 100 owners of Bitcoin to suddenly all decide to cash out and the value would hit the floor. Pure speculation and as long as nobody blinks or starts to sweat its all good. Great fun for small amounts of cash but you wouldn't bet your house on it.

by J.C. | 11th Mar 21, 1:23pm 1615422217

Strawman.

by Mark Hubbard 1965 | 11th Mar 21, 2:02pm 1615424539

Many people above are getting mixed up between Crypto (Bitcoin, etc) and tokenisation vis a vis stablecoins.

They use the same technology, namely the blockchain, but are very different in that stablecoins are backed by the physical asset (NZD, gold, etc), whereas Crypto, such as Bitcoin is backed by nothing 'physical'.

I'm buying physical gold via Pax Gold (PAXG) and I think it revolutionary in terms of convenience: it's simply the best way for me to buy physical gold.

Totally different argument as to whether Crypto is a store of value, etc.

by rastus1 | 12th Mar 21, 12:20pm 1615504854

PAX looks interesting thanks. Anyone here got any thoughts/experience on it?

by dago | 11th Mar 21, 5:57pm 1615438633

Named 'stable' coins because the horse has bolted
.. NEEEIEIGGH HORSE POO $1 BAG

by Mark Hubbard 1965 | 11th Mar 21, 5:59pm 1615438785

Goodness me. Stable coins and tokenisation are a fantastic advance for modern markets. Read my comment above. And well done this innovative firm.

by TuaWai Smith | 12th Mar 21, 4:03am 1615475004

People are still paying .5% brokerage fee on anything???the old scam is still around huh.

by Dan122 | 16th Mar 21, 5:36pm 1615869418

The creator of decentralized finance or swaps on the bchain recons that if it aint decentralized as a national currency that it will fail. Funny huh. Get with it interest.co.nz.