Japanese MUFG Bank Denies That It Is Developing New Cryptocurrency

The Japanese MUFG bank is in the cryptocurrency news today for denying the reports that it plans to launch a cryptocurrency in Japan next year. The largest bank in the country and the fifth largest bank in the world has issued a statement from the official Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) saying that they had not decided whether a recent business partnership would form a digital currency entity.

Before this, many English-language media outlets including Japan Times reported that the Japanese MUFG bank was eyeing a release date in the first half of 2020 for a digital currency which was yet to be named.

“These reports are not based on any announcement made by MUFG Bank,” the statement read. MUFG added, “It is true that we have concluded the joint venture agreement for an establishment of a new company. No other decision has been made in this regard at this time.”

The digital currency offering would reportedly let the users make payments through smartphones using QR codes while the digital currency account is linked to their personal bank accounts.

As Japan Times noted, the Japanese MUFG bank would hold a minority stake in the company behind the token where 51% would be owned by its partner as well as human resources services provider Recruit Holdings.

What’s interesting this period is the fact that a growing number of banks are attempting to front-run the demand for such payments. The Japanese MUFG Bank is only one of them but schemes such as Mizuho Bank and its J-Coin Pay are gaining attention every single day.

A move like this for the Japanese MUFG Bank would mean that it is the first venture in the digital currency sphere. As we reported before, last year the bank unveiled an in-house cryptocurrency project named “MUFG Coin.”

Therefore, the similarities are not unintentional – the MUFG Bank has been in the crypto waters for some time now. In February this year, the bank formed a separate partnership with the content delivery network Akamai in an attempt to debut a blockchain payment network dubbed Global Open Network in the first half of 2020.