Mizuho Bank to launch digital currency platform ‘J-Coin Pay’ in March

Mizuho Bank has announced that it is on track to launch a new digital currency platform next month.

Called ‘J-Coin Pay,’ the platform will be launched in cooperation with nearly 60 other financial institutions. Participating institutions include Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank (OKB), Bank of Toyama, Shinsei Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, and others. A number of companies from food, transportation, retail, and other sectors are also looking to partner with J-Coin Pay.

To provide smartphone-based payment services, J-Coin Pay employs QR codes, allowing customers to make payments, send and receive transfers, and perform other financial transactions.

“Customers will also be able to use the app to move funds between their J-Coin Pay accounts and their deposit accounts at their financial institutions for free, anytime and anywhere,” Mizuho added.

Finextra reported that the value of the digital currency would be fixed at 1 yen per unit, similar to stablecoins. In order to boost its adoption, merchants adding support for the coin would be charged a lower fee as compared to credit card payments.

“The J-Coin Pay app will launch on iOS and Android on March 1. Customers will be able to register their Mizuho Bank deposit accounts the same day and their deposit accounts at certain participating financial institutions from March 25,” the bank said.

Mizuho further listed three key areas where it plans to expand this initiative. This includes expanding the J-Coin Pay affiliated store network and partnerships, enhancing payment services for non-Japanese customers visiting Japan through partnerships with QR code operators outside Japan, and providing J-Coin Pay for transfers between corporate clients and individual customers, such as expense accounting and salary payment.

“Our partnerships with UnionPay and Alipay will be our starting point for expanding our network of global partners, with a focus on Asia,” it said.

Earlier this month, banking giant JP Morgan officially announced its digital currency initiative ‘JPM Coin’ and revealed key details of this new cryptocurrency.