Japanese Banking Giant MUFG to Issue Its Own Stablecoin in H2 2020

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, or MUFGt, the fifth largest bank in the world, is reportedly planning to issue its own digital currency in the second half of 2020.

Initiated back in 2015, the digital currency project was originally designed to run on a blockchain network and facilitate instant peer-to-peer transactions. Following multiple delays, the initiative is now scheduled to be rolled out no later than 2020, Cointelegraph Japan reports on July 13.

“We think that everyone will be able to use it openly”

Hironori Kamezawa, president and CEO at MUFG, announced the new plans on Monday to local news agency, the Mainichi Shimbun. As part of the upcoming launch, MUFG is reportedly planning to launch mobile retail payments powered by the digital currency in collaboration with its partner, the Recruit Group.

According to the report, Kamezawa said that nearly 1 million Recruit member stores have already signed up for this collaboration. “We think that everyone will be able to use it openly,” the CEO noted, adding that MUFG token will be available to non-Recruit stores in future as well.

MUFG token is pegged 1:1 to the Japanese yen

As previously reported, the MUFG token is designed as a blockchain-based stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the Japanese yen. Since the project was first initiated about five years ago, the rollout of the MUFG token has been delayed several times. The bank was reportedly trying to launch the token throughout both 2018 and 2019.

MUFG is the largest financial company in Japan. It was prospectively set to become the first Japanese bank to issue a digital currency. In September 2019, MUFG participated in a $14 million investment round for Coinbase-backed token issuance protocol, Securitize, alongside Banco Santander and Nomura Holdings.