Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Plans to Issue Yen-Pegged Stablecoin

Japan’s largest bank Mitsubishi UFJ Trust plans to issue a yen-pegged stablecoin for the instant settlement of securities transactions in partnership with Daiwa Securities and SBI. It will be similar to JPMoragn’s JPM Coin which is focused on speeding up wholesale payments such as bond transactions. The stablecoin Progmacoin will enable institutions to boost its payment processes by utilizing blockchain technology. Currently, such processes can take a couple of days, costing even upto millions of dollars a year in Japan. With the issuance of Mitsubishi’s stablecoin this could eliminate the costs and the lengthy time-consuming process. The Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) is among the world’s largest financial groups and is listed on the Tokyo, Nagoya and New York stock exchanges. The group includes MUFG Bank, Ltd., Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Holdings Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS Co., Ltd. and Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Company Limited. In December 2021, Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) revised legislation to allow only banks and wire transfer companies to issue stablecoins. Under the revised law, Japanese financial institutions can issue stablecoins for the settlement of securities transactions. Japan is a popular country for the cryptocurrency industry. In 2021 alone, the country saw a 50% increase in the digital asset space from the previous year to reach over 1...