Kanetsugu Mike, recently appointed MUFG president, revealed the news of planned launch in an interview with Asahi Shimbun, local media news outlet.
Japan’s largest financial institution MUFG is on track to become the first bank to disburse a cryptocurrency, which is pegged to the yen on a 1:1 basis. The blockchain based stable coin has been designed with real world use in mind. Customers of the bank have to simply download an app that will convert their bank deposits into stablecoin.
Roughly 1,500 employees of the company have taken part in the trial of MUFG Coin in the past two years.
Commenting on the initiative, Kanetsugu Mike said
“I would like to offer unprecedented new value.”
In 2019, MUFG aims to test MUFG Coin with nearly 100,000 clients of the bank. While the president is yet to clearly explain the phase between this expected trial period and practical application in 2019, the bank would like to see users “use the currency to make payment in places like restaurants, convenience stores and other shops” and also “transfers the currency into the accounts of other participants.”
Back in December 2018, Mizuho Financial Group, another well-known banking behemoth, revealed its intention to introduce a native cryptocurrency for remittance. The crypto, named J-Coin, was originally planned for launch on March 1, 2019. The crypto is designed to act as a bridge between prevailing bank accounts with digital wallets. The project is planned in partnership with 60 financial institutions, which share 56 million clients’ accounts among them.
Japan already hosts innovators of digital remittance systems such as Rakuten, an e-commerce firm, which is planning to launch a cryptocurrency exchange, and Line, which offers chat application. Line has already launched its own crypto and in-house blockchain.