Japan’s Nippon Yusen KK shipping company is set to introduce its own digital currency for internal use, paying its seafaring workers in particular, reports Bloomberg, 20 November 2018. The aim of this move is to minimize the trouble and costs of managing, sending and converting money to their local currencies.
US Dollar-Pegged Digital Currency
One of Japan’s oldest and largest shipping lines is launching its own digital currency, which would be linked to the US dollar to avoid dealing with its value volatility, similar to some of the publicly traded cryptocurrencies. Until now, it is not clear whether the currency would use blockchain technology or adapt to the cryptocurrency. It plans to launch the customized digital currency in the first quarter of 2019.
Nippon Yusen KK owns and operates 800 vessels on each vessel with 20 – 23 crew members. The majority of crew members in the sector are paid in cash or their accounts are transferred with the requisite amount. Yusen ships take between $ 40,000 and $ 60,000 to meet these salary and other cash costs.
Paying Employees in Digital Currency
Yusen employs more than 30,000 people worldwide and a large number of them are crews belonging to different nations on board. Therefore, it is necessary to make the in-house dollar digital currency. According to the Japanese Ministry of Transport, the majority of the crew are Filipinos or Chinese. Nippon Yusen KK works with banks and software developers to make digital currency convertible.
Initial tests with naval communication systems, like satellites, were successful. Sources near Yusen indicate that the company intends to patent its customized technologies. There is a word about future plans to make the technology externally available and to market the service to other industry players.
While there are a number of private companies offering these services, Yusen is the first to develop a digital currency for wages. Last year, GMO Group, a publicly listed Japanese Internet service provider, offered its employees the option of receiving a portion of their Bitcoin payments. In the same way, some companies have given employees bonuses instead of cash in virtual currencies.
