What is GYEN Crypto Coin? A Clear Guide to Japan’s Regulated Yen Stablecoin

GYEN is a digital coin that’s pegged 1:1 to the Japanese yen (JPY). Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, which swing wildly in price, GYEN stays stable - one GYEN is always worth one Japanese yen. It was created by GMO-Z.com Trust Company, a regulated financial firm under Japan’s GMO Internet Group, and launched in November 2019 as the first legally approved digital yen stablecoin in the world. Its whole purpose? To let people and businesses move yen around on blockchain networks without worrying about exchange rate chaos.

How GYEN Works - Simple and Transparent

Every GYEN token in circulation is backed by a real Japanese yen sitting in a bank account in Japan. Not some vague promise. Not a mix of assets. Just yen. GMO Trust holds these funds in segregated accounts, meaning your yen isn’t mixed with company money. Every month, an independent accounting firm checks the reserves and publishes a report on stablecoin.z.com. You can see exactly how much yen backs each GYEN token.

GYEN runs on multiple blockchains: Ethereum (as an ERC-20 token), Solana, Stellar, and now Arbitrum. This lets it work with different wallets and exchanges, each with their own speed and cost trade-offs. Ethereum is slower and pricier but widely supported. Solana is fast and cheap, great for small payments. The choice depends on what you’re using it for.

Redeeming GYEN for real yen is straightforward - if you’re an institution. You send GYEN back to GMO Trust, and they send you the equivalent in yen. But there’s a catch: the minimum redemption is ¥1,000,000 JPY (about $6,500 USD). That’s not for casual users. It’s built for banks, trading firms, and companies doing cross-border payments.

Who Uses GYEN - And Who Doesn’t

Most GYEN users aren’t retail traders. They’re Japanese businesses. Importers, exporters, fintechs - anyone who needs to pay or get paid in yen but wants faster settlement than traditional banking allows. One case study from GMO Trust shows a Japanese company cutting payment times from 3-5 days down to under two hours using GYEN for international invoices.

For regular crypto users? It’s tricky. GYEN isn’t listed on Binance, Kraken, or most major global exchanges. It’s mainly on Coinbase Pro, Bitstamp, and a few Japanese platforms. If you’re outside Japan and want to trade GYEN, you’ll likely need to convert it to USDT or USDC first - which adds fees and complexity.

Reddit users have mixed feelings. One trader said they moved 50 million GYEN between GMO Trust and Bitstamp in a day with a 0.1% fee. Another complained they couldn’t deposit 100,000 GYEN to Binance and lost 1.5% converting to USDT. That’s the reality: GYEN is powerful in its niche, but useless if your exchange doesn’t support it.

Why GYEN Is Different From USDT or USDC

USDT and USDC are dollar-backed. GYEN is yen-backed. That makes all the difference. If you’re doing business in Japan, or sending money to Japanese suppliers, using GYEN avoids currency conversion fees and exchange rate risk. You don’t need to buy dollars first, then convert to yen. You just use yen - digitally.

Regulation is another big divider. While USDT and USDC face scrutiny from U.S. regulators, GYEN is fully licensed under Japan’s Payment Services Act. GMO Trust holds Japan’s first Category 1 Crypto Asset Exchange license for stablecoins. That means it’s held to strict standards: capital requirements, audits, KYC/AML checks, and reserve transparency.

Compare that to JPYC, Japan’s other yen stablecoin. JPYC is mostly limited to Japanese exchanges. GYEN is listed on Coinbase Pro, which gave it global visibility. It’s also backed by GMO Trust’s reputation - a company that’s been around since 2006 and runs one of Japan’s largest internet and financial services platforms.

Market Size and Real-World Numbers

As of March 2025, GYEN’s circulating supply is around 2.1 billion tokens. That sounds big - until you compare it to USDT’s $112 billion market cap. GYEN’s market cap hovers around $13-14 million. It’s tiny on the global stage.

It holds about 68% of Japan’s yen stablecoin market, with JPYC and a few others splitting the rest. But yen stablecoins only make up 12.3% of Japan’s entire crypto market. The rest? Dollar-backed coins. That tells you where most people’s trust lies.

Trading volume is low - around $10,000 per day across 34 trading pairs. USDT trades over $30 billion daily. GYEN’s liquidity is thin. If you try to sell a large amount, you’ll likely move the price. That’s why institutions use it for settlement, not speculation.

Pros and Cons - The Real Talk

• Pros: 100% yen backing, monthly audits, regulated by Japan’s financial authority, multi-chain support, fast cross-border settlement (78% faster than banks), listed on Coinbase Pro.
• Cons: High minimum transaction size (¥1M), limited exchange support, low liquidity, not designed for retail users, vulnerable to Japan’s regulatory changes, faces future competition from Japan’s own central bank digital currency (CBDC).

The biggest risk? Japan is working on its own digital yen - a CBDC. If and when the Bank of Japan launches it, GYEN could become redundant. Some analysts say GYEN is a bridge to that future. Others say it’s a dead end. GMO Trust’s CEO says GYEN will be Japan’s primary digital yen before the CBDC arrives. But that’s a bold claim.

Can You Buy GYEN as a Regular Person?

Technically, yes - but it’s not easy. You need to use a supported exchange like Coinbase Pro or Bitstamp. You’ll need to complete KYC, and you’ll need to send yen to your account first. Once you have yen on the exchange, you can buy GYEN directly.

But here’s the catch: most wallets don’t support GYEN. If you withdraw it to a MetaMask wallet, you’ll need to manually add the token contract address for Ethereum. For Solana, you’ll need a Phantom wallet and the correct token ID. It’s not plug-and-play like USDC.

For most people, buying GYEN makes sense only if you’re:

• Living in Japan and sending remittances
• Running a business that pays Japanese suppliers
• Trading on Japanese crypto exchanges
• Interested in regulatory-compliant stablecoins

If you’re just speculating or want to use it in DeFi, stick with USDC or DAI. GYEN doesn’t have the liquidity or ecosystem support to be useful there.

The Future of GYEN

GMO Trust is pushing hard to expand GYEN’s use. In early 2024, they integrated it with Solana Pay - meaning you could soon pay for coffee in Japan using GYEN via a mobile wallet. They’re also working on connecting GYEN to Japan’s national ID system (My Number Card), which could let individuals verify their identity for smaller transactions by mid-2024.

But the real test is adoption. Right now, 88% of GYEN transactions come from institutions. Only 12% are from individuals. If GYEN wants to grow, it needs to become useful to regular people - not just banks.

Deloitte predicts yen stablecoins could make up 25% of Japan’s retail payments by 2027. But that’s only if GYEN and others get listed on more exchanges, lower minimums, and integrate with popular apps. Until then, GYEN remains a powerful tool for niche use cases - not a mainstream crypto asset.

Final Thoughts

GYEN isn’t trying to be the next Bitcoin. It’s not even trying to be the next USDC. It’s a precision tool - a digital version of the Japanese yen built for financial institutions that need speed, transparency, and regulatory safety. If you’re inside Japan’s financial system or work with Japanese businesses, GYEN is one of the best tools you can use. If you’re outside that world, it’s more of a curiosity than a necessity.

It’s stable. It’s backed. It’s regulated. But it’s not liquid. It’s not easy to use. And it’s not meant for everyone. That’s okay. Not every crypto needs to be for the masses. Some tools are built for a specific job - and GYEN does its job better than almost anything else in its lane.