Japanese Banking Giant Mizuho to Launch Its Yen-Pegged Stablecoin in March

Japan's banking giant Mizuho Financial Group will launch its bespoke stablecoin for payments and remittance services on March 1, local financial newspaper Nikkei Asian Review reports on Feb. 21.

In a partnership with around 60 counterpart financial institutions - which together reportedly host 56 million user accounts - Mizuho's new "J-Coin" digital currency platform will reportedly directly link existing bank accounts with digital wallets.

Mizuho Financial Group is a public banking holding company that reported over $1.8 trillion in total assets as of Dec. 31, 2018.

According to Nikkei, the currency will be a digital stablecoin fixed at a price of 1 yen per unit, and transfers between bank accounts and J-Coin wallets are set to be zero-fee.

Mizuho CEO Tatsufumi Sakai told Nikkei that "The arrival of all these new entrants is eroding the common-sense notion that payment services are provided by financial institutions." As Nikkei notes, Japan is already served by payment innovators such as e-commerce giant Rakuten and chat app provider Line, which has itself launched its own cryptocurrency and in-house blockchain.

In a bid to establish the platform with retail industry players, Mizuho is reportedly currently negotiating with convenience store FamilyMart, as well as electronic retailer Bic Camera and transport company East Japan Railway.

As Nikkei notes, despite the megabank's broad perspective user base and 60-member alliance, its target user outreach still falls short of Line's existing 79 million Japanese users.

Mizuho is thus reportedly further pursuing a partnership strategy with Alibaba's Alipay to help J-Coin Pay gain traction with stores.

As previously reported, Mizuho first announced its digital currency plans in late December 2018.

In January 2018, another Japanese banking giant - Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the world's fifth-largest bank - unveiled its own plans to launch a yen-pegged stablecoin, dubbed MUFG Coin.