Japan's Largest Bank Experiments Using Own Crypto at Convenience Store

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, one of the world’s largest financial groups, has been experimenting with using its own cryptocurrency, the Mufg coin, for payments at a convenience store for employees. This week, a local publication reported on the progress of the experiment.

Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space

Payments at Convenience Store

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (Mufg) has been experimenting with its digital currency, the Mufg coin. A convenience store for employees only, located at the group’s headquarters in Tokyo, has been allowing Mufg employees to pay with these coins. The Sankei Shimbun visited the store and reported this week that the experiment “is quietly advancing.”

A cash register has been set up for payments using Mufg coins at the store. Employees paying with them present the QR code displayed on their smartphones to the store clerk at checkout. Mufg will examine any issues faced by both the users or the merchant.

In addition to making payments at the convenience store, the coins can be used to exchange money between colleagues such as splitting bills, the news outlet conveyed.

Mufg is Japan’s largest financial groups, with total assets of 306 trillion yen (~US$2.76 trillion) as of March 31. One of its subsidiaries, Mufg Bank, is also Japan’s largest bank with offices throughout Japan and in 40 other countries.

Plans for the Mufg Coin

The Mufg coin was created as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group explored how “blockchain technology could be applied for a variety of everyday financial needs, such as withdrawals and deposits to transactions and payments,” the company previously described, elaborating:

Potentially this coin could have large-scale commercial potential, as well serving small-scale retail bank customers. Other than Mufg coin, Mufg is testing another untitled digital currency rewards [program] for employees who reduce their overtime hours and practice a healthy lifestyle.

Japanese daily Mainichi explained that the coin is pegged to the yen, with the price of one Mufg coin kept stable at one yen.

The group detailed that while banknotes and physical coins can be widely used, their “significant toll in terms of cost and time required for the procurement, storage and transport of these instruments is often overlooked.” The Mufg coin has, therefore, been developed as a low-cost cashless finance infrastructure.

According to Mufg, the coins will have “instantaneous transfer capabilities” and provide the ability to make micropayments “in decimal value increments.”

What do you think of the plans for the Mufg coin? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Mufg.

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