Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group started testing virtual currencies in 2016. The recent news is that it set a launch date of March for its J-Coin digital currency project and the bank is partnering with 60 other banks according to
Nikkei Asia. Separately Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group announced its MUFG Coin in early 2016 with the intention of unveiling it in 2019. The question is whether it will join the J-Coin consortium. The timing is no coincidence as Japan prepares for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
In Japan, the vast majority of retail payments are still in cash with estimates ranging from 65%-80%. Come summer 2020 a deluge of foreigners visiting for the Olympics, particularly from Asia, will expect to pay digitally. Mizuho is partnering with “regional” banks, not just Japanese banks.
Additionally, earlier this year the big three Japanese banks, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, settled on a standard for QR codes for cashless transactions.
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