Mizuho Bank will partner with more than 60 financial institutions to use its J-Coin Pay platform while serving more than 59 million customers.
Mizuho Financial Group, one of Japan’s largest financial institutions, plans to launch its own digital currency called J-Coin. Last week, on February 21, local news publication Nikkei Asian Review reported that Mizuho will launch J-Coin on March 1. In addition, it is likely that J-Coin is linked to the Japanese Yen on a 1: 1 basis.
Mizuho working all the time
Mizuho is in talks with 60 local financial institutions in Japan for the use of J-Coin. Together, these 60 financial institutions serve a total of 59 million user accounts. If all these institutions on board the J-Coin Pay platform, will serve directly as digital wallets for their users.
“With the new J-Coin Pay digital banking currency platform, Mizuho Bank and other participating financial institutions will work together to achieve the Japanese government’s goal of achieving a cashless society,” said Mizuho, reports BlockTribune.
Easy to use compared to credit cards
The Nikkei report also indicates that J-Coin will be much easier to use than traditional credit cards. Unlike credit cards, registration on the J-Coin Pay platform will be easy and without many detection tests. To serve a broad age group, the J-Coin Pay platform will also incorporate users under 18 years of age.
The J-Coin Pay cryptographic platform will have a QR code mechanism for fast payments through the J-Coin Pay application. In addition, the J-Coin Pay application would facilitate the easy transfer of funds to banks without additional charges. The bank said:
“The J-Coin Pay app will launch on iOS and Android on March 1. Customers can register their Mizuho Bank deposit accounts on the same day and their deposit accounts at certain participating financial institutions as of March 25. Other participating financial institutions will be added gradually thereafter”.
In the future, Mizuho plans to strengthen its position in the cashless payment services market through the incorporation of more financial affiliates. It will do so by partnering with more retail stores in Japan. Currently, the FamilyMart convenience store, electronics retailer Bic Camera and East Japan Railway are considering subscribing to the J-Coin Pay platform. In addition, Mizuho plans to have a minimum of 300,000 participating stores. It also plans to incorporate more than 6.5 million users in the coming years.
Intense competition in the Japanese market
Japan is one of the friendliest nations with encryption that drives the latest FinTech revolution. Citing the potential of the powerful blockchain technology, the market for payment and remittance services is adopting this new technology. In addition, several local Japanese remittance service providers have launched their own projects.
Local e-commerce giants like Rakuten plan to have their own digital token systems. Therefore, it means that the J-Coin of Mizuho has an intense competition to face in the market. Mizuho CEO Tatsufumi Sakai said:
“The arrival of all these new entrants is eroding the notion of common sense that payment services are provided by financial institutions”.
To improve his game, Mizuho also plans to collaborate with global players. It will partner with QR code operators outside Japan to facilitate the payment of J-Coin Pay between individual customers and corporate clients.
“Our partnerships with UnionPay and Alipay will be our starting point to expand our network of global partners, with a focus on Asia” the bank said.