Australian developer of blockchain solutions Labrys and New Zealand crypto exchange Easy Crypto announced the NZDD stablecoin, pegged to the national currency of New Zealand.

The developers said that NZDD will be backed by fiat currency in a 1:1 ratio and will be regulated by the New Zealand Financial Markets Authority. The stablecoin operates on the Ethereum blockchain, and in the future it will work on the Polygon, BNB Smart Chain, Arbitrum, Optimism networks and the Base blockchain created by the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange.

Easy Crypto co-founder and CEO Janine Grainger said the decision to develop a stablecoin was made because New Zealanders are finding it difficult to optimize their income when using tokens pegged to the US dollar. She added that trading platform Easy Crypto has also introduced a multi-currency self-custody wallet that uses multi-party computing to protect funds.

“The NZDD stablecoin is a digital programmable currency that can be used to do the same things as the regular New Zealand dollar. This will allow cryptocurrencies to become closer to traditional finance,” Granger said.

In May, the CEO of Easy Crypto criticized local banks for refusing to serve cryptocurrency companies, urging financial institutions to accept the fact that digital assets are inevitably disrupting the financial industry.