GMO-Z

GMO-Z.com Trust Company was a New York-regulated stablecoin issuer that brought two fully-reserved fiat-backed tokens — GYEN (digital Japanese yen) and ZUSD (digital US dollar) — to multiple blockchains, including Solana. The company operated under a Limited Purpose Trust Charter granted by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) and positioned itself as the institutional bridge between traditional currencies and on-chain finance. As of May 2026, the company commenced an orderly wind-down and voluntary dissolution; minting of new GYEN and ZUSD has ceased, and the 180-day redemption period for existing holders runs through November 11, 2026.

What It Is and the Problem It Solved

Most stablecoin issuers focus exclusively on US dollars. GMO-Z set out to fill a gap by issuing the world's first regulated Japanese yen stablecoin, GYEN, alongside its companion dollar token ZUSD. Both products targeted institutional and retail participants who needed regulated, audited exposure to fiat currencies on-chain — without relying on unregulated or algorithmic alternatives. The NYDFS charter meant GYEN and ZUSD could be listed on regulated exchanges and held by custodians with compliance requirements, a distinction that mattered to institutional counterparties navigating US financial regulations.

How It Worked

GYEN and ZUSD were fully-reserved tokens maintained on a 1:1 basis with their underlying fiat currencies. Reserves were held in insured financial institutions and US government money-market funds or Treasury bills. An independent accounting firm published monthly reserve attestation reports to verify the backing in real time, and the company underwent third-party smart-contract audits by leading security firms.

Users accessed the tokens through the GMO Trust platform: creating an account, completing KYC verification, then purchasing or redeeming at par with no fees charged for the mint or swap functions. The platform also supported cross-chain swaps, allowing a holder to convert Ethereum-based GYEN into its Solana counterpart (or vice versa) without leaving the GMO Trust interface.

Solana Integration

GMO-Z launched GYEN and ZUSD on Solana on January 23, 2024, with platform trading opening February 14, 2024. The Solana deployment was positioned as a speed and cost upgrade over the company's earlier Ethereum presence. Solana's 400-millisecond block times and transaction fees consistently below $0.0025 made it practical for high-frequency settlement use cases that would be expensive on Ethereum.

The Solana contract addresses were:

• GYEN: Crn4x1Y2HUKko7ox2EZMT6N2t2ZyH7eKtwkBGVnhEq1g
• ZUSD: FrBfWJ4qE5sCzKm3k3JaAtqZcXUh4LvJygDeketsrsH4

Raj Gokal, co-founder of Solana, commented at the time of the launch: "GMO Trust's issuance highlights how Solana's network enables companies to launch regulated financial products scalably."

Key Features and Supported Assets

• Two tokens: GYEN (JPY) and ZUSD (USD), each 1:1 reserve-backed
• Multi-chain: Ethereum, Stellar, and Solana — with seamless cross-chain swaps on the GMO Trust platform
• Institutional distribution: Settlement infrastructure through Zero Hash, BitGo, and Fireblocks; custody through Anchorage Digital, Copper, HexTrust, Komainu, BitGo, and Fireblocks
• Exchange access: Listed on Bitstamp; available on Uniswap, Curve.fi, SushiSwap, and 1Inch
• NYDFS greenlisted: Both tokens received NYDFS approval for custody and listing on regulated platforms

GYEN and ZUSD were not available to Japanese residents due to regulatory restrictions pending further notice from Japanese authorities.

Security and Compliance

GMO-Z held ISO 27001 certification for information security management. Smart contracts were independently audited by third-party security firms. Monthly reserve attestation reports from an independent accounting firm were published for public review. The NYDFS Limited Purpose Trust Charter imposed ongoing capital requirements, AML/KYC obligations, and regulatory reporting — giving GMO-Z a compliance posture closer to a bank than to an offshore stablecoin issuer.

Team and Corporate Background

GMO-Z.com Trust Company was established in 2020 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of GMO Internet Group Inc. (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 9449), a Japanese internet conglomerate founded in 1991 with over 110 subsidiaries across internet infrastructure, digital advertising, financial services, and cryptocurrency. GMO Internet Group had nine publicly traded group companies at the time of GMO-Z's founding.

The leadership team brought deep financial and compliance credentials: CEO Ken Nakamura built the US operation over more than 13 years at GMO; COO Tomohisa Onishi brought over 20 years of systems development experience; CFO Robert Kalkstein had a decade of accounting and finance background; and CCO Takashi Shimahara had 33 years at SMBC covering international banking. The board included members with backgrounds at the FDIC and Goldman Sachs.

Litigation and Settlement

In April 2026, a federal class action settlement was submitted for final court approval in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The case alleged that GYEN had depegged from the Japanese yen, causing losses for investors. GMO-Z agreed to a $6.8 million settlement to resolve the claims without admitting liability. The settlement predated the wind-down announcement by approximately one month.

Wind-Down

On May 15, 2026, GMO Internet Group announced it would dissolve GMO-Z.com Trust Company and cease GYEN and ZUSD issuance, citing a strategic shift to pursue new cryptoasset-related business opportunities in Japan. The parent company recorded an extraordinary loss of approximately 2.2 billion yen as a write-down of subsidiary shares, though management characterized the consolidated impact as immaterial.

The company initiated voluntary dissolution under New York Banking Law Section 605. The 180-day redemption window — May 15 to November 11, 2026 — allows existing account holders in good standing to redeem GYEN and ZUSD at par. The mint (purchase) function was removed immediately upon wind-down announcement; swap functionality between supported blockchains remained available during the redemption period.

GMO-Z operated for approximately five years, establishing GYEN as the first regulated JPY stablecoin issued under a US regulatory framework and building one of the few institutional-grade yen exposure products available across DeFi ecosystems including Solana.