NZDT To Relaunch In Early 2019

Several months after its launch last year, New Zealand’s dollar-pegged cryptocurrency, NZDT, was suspended. Cryptopia – the Christchurch, New Zealand-based exchange behind NZDT – is now ready to re-release the coin in the first quarter of 2019, according to a report from local news outlet Newsroom.

Business development manager Adam Lyness noted that Cryptopia is working with a new, unnamed bank to relaunch the coin. The previous bank, ASB, had concerns about NZDT in regards to compliance, know-your-customer requirements, and the surge in Australian crypto scandals at the time. Cryptopia is now collaborating with regulatory and government officials who are “curious” about the cryptocurrency, not disapproving.

Lyness also mentioned that demand for NZDT has remained strong despite the decline in crypto trading volumes.

Moreover, Campbell Pentney, a cryptocurrency tax expert at one of New Zealand’s largest law firms, Bell Gully, believes that relaunching NZDT will be important to the country’s crypto investors. Although the token was originally used in large part to purchase other coins, he said that market expansion “is expected.”

“Let’s assume blockchain takes off and has amazing projects all over the world,” he said. “Without an NZ dollar entry point [like NZDT], New Zealanders will find it hard to invest in these projects directly.”

NZDT was initially released quietly by Cryptopia in May 2017 as a way for Kiwis to join the crypto craze and buy bitcoin or other trending coins. Trading volume was small at first, but after three to four months, Lyness said the exchange was transacting one million New Zealand dollars a day. ASB Bank officially closed Cryptopia’s account, however, in early 2018.

Daniel Putney is a full-time writer for ETHNews. He received his bachelor’s degree in English writing from the University of Nevada, Reno, where he also studied journalism and queer theory. In his free time, he writes poetry, plays the piano, and fangirls over fictional characters. He lives with his partner, three dogs, and two cats in the middle of nowhere, Nevada.

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