New Crypto Coin to be Launched by Japan

Japanese financial banking giant Mizuho Financial Group will launch its new crypto stable coin for payments and remittance services on March 1st.

It will be making a partnership with around 60 financial institutions and will together be hosting around 56 million user accounts on the launch of its stable coin called as ‘J-coin.’ This digital currency will reportedly be linked directly to existing bank accounts with the wallets. This will also be having a dedicated mobile app, dubbed J-coin pay and QR codes at checkout to complete retail payments.

The stable coin is fixed at 1 yen (0.64 Rs), and the transfers between the bank account and the J-coin wallets will be zero fees.It is also pursuing a partnership strategy with Alibaba’s Alipay to help J-Coin Pay gain traction with stores and also plans to charge merchants lower transaction fees than credit card services, which typically range between 2 to 5 percent.

Mizuho CEO Tatsufumi Sakai says, “the arrival of all these new entrants [into the digital payments space] is eroding the common-sense notion that financial institutions provide payment services.”

Another banking giant Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group(MUFG), the world’s fifth-largest bank was seen unveiling its plans to launch a yen-pegged stable coin, dubbed as MUFG Coin. It also had plans to ally with the United States content delivery Akamai, by H1 2020.

Phillip Gillespie, from the marketing firm B2C2 Japan, told The Block “Japan has an interesting story,” adding “Guys are coming in, getting their licenses, and Japan is coming back.”