Mizuho Financial Group, one of the biggest banks in Japan, announced through its website the launching of its own cryptocurrency on March 1st, 2019, becoming the second large bank to adopt cryptos within its processes. The cryptocurrency will be used by the clients of the financial institution to avoid third parties in the process of electronic payments.
The Mizuho Financial Group is integrated with 60 financial institutions that currently work in Japan, with approximately 56 million users, all which will have the J-Coin Pay cryptocurrency available in an attempt to compete with other companies in the e-commerce industry such as Rakuten, and other e-payment platforms.
The arrival of all these new entrants is eroding the common-sense notion that payment services are provided by financial institutions.
Tatsufumi Sakai, Mizuho CEO
J-Coin Pay will work similarly to other products currently offered by competitors in the region. Clients will be able to purchase products using a QR code with the J-Coin Pay app, which will apply the necessary J-Coins to purchase the item, working like a stablecoin and having a value of 1 yen per coin. Clients will also be able to transfer money from their wallets in J-Coin to any bank account, free of charge.
The cryptocurrency platform offered by Mizuho will process both payments and remittance of cross-border payments, enabling clients to send money anywhere with reduced fees and great speed. The platform will also allow sharing payments between multiple clients that use the platform.
Mizuho is trying to attract new clients to its business structure by offering new and innovating services, making it easier for customers to use their money worldwide. Huge companies in Japan, such as FamilyMart, BicCamera and East Japan Railway are already in conversations with Mizuho to start offering their services in J-Coins. The financial institution expects to start working with over 300,000 businesses allowing over 6 million users to pay in J-Coins in the country, especially thanks to the huge banking network Mizuho already offers. The financial group is also looking to reduce fees for businesses to incentivize them to integrate the J-Coin.
Just a few weeks ago, JPMorgan also announced its plans to launch its own cryptocurrency, which could only mean that the banking industry is finally adopting the technology, although not as it was first intended since all of those stablecoins are basically centralized, missing an essential aspect of why cryptocurrencies were created in the first place, which is to be decentralized.
