Japan Mizuho Bank Prepares to Launch National Cryptocurrency

Japan’s thorough crypto legal framework and the high adoption rates, makes it the perfect destination to trial bank-based digital currency platforms. As such, recent reports indicate that the Japanese Mizuho Bank, a subsidiary of the largest financial company in the country, is preparing to launch a digital currency, dubbed J-Coin Pay, next month.

Back in December 2018, the Mizuho Financial Group announced the commencement of work on their stablecoin project. At that time, little detail was issued, but as we’re nearing the launch data, more information has become available.

With this in mind, the digital currency is created via a joint partnership between the Mizuho Bank and 60 other financial institutions. Its main purpose is to reduce cash usage, and encourage the adoption of cashless payments by the Japanese society. As a stablecoin, the value of J-Coin is tied directly to the Japanese yen. This means that profiting off volatility is impossible, yet this also means that money-loss risks are drastically reduced.

There are several benefits associated with the J-Coin Pay platform, as outlined by the Mizuho representatives: "J-Coin Pay employs QR codes to provide smartphone-based payment services. It will allow customers to make payments, send and receive transfers, and perform other financial transactions all on their smartphones. Customers will also be able to use the smartphone app to move funds between their J-Coin Pay accounts and their deposit accounts at their financial institutions for free, anytime and anywhere. "

It is important to point out the fact the success of the platform relies on whether Japanese merchants decide to accept J-Coin as a payment method. According to Mizuho, merchants who use the platform will have to pay considerably lower processing fees, when compared to debit and credit cards. While the system is mostly designed for Japanese citizens, it’ll also be usable by tourists and visitors that rely on the Alipay Payment platform, since cross-support is reportedly offered.

According to the Mizuho group, there is considerable effort being invested into creating a feature that would allow J-Coin Pay users to exchange the J-Coin with digital currencies, and other forms of electronic money. An implementation like this would likely increase adoption rates for the Japanese cryptocurrency community.

In the future, the Mizuho Bank plans to further encourage the expansion of the J-Coin payment platform, by entering partnerships with other cashless payment providers, and enabling corporate, inter-bank and cross-border monetary transfers.