According to Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun, one of the major newspapers in the country, and South Korea’s national public news publication KBS, MUFG is preparing the ground to establish a cryptocurrency exchange that allows local investors to invest in the cryptocurrency market.
In the coming weeks, MUFG plans to get all the necessary resources and aims to submit an application to the Japanese FSA. However, Mainichi Shimbun reported that filing for the application to operate a cryptocurrency exchange in Japan is difficult, and the bank will go through a tough process to launch a trading platform for digital assets, as it is always harder to get this license in Japan. At the moment there are around 17 cryptocurrency exchanges operating in Japan.
FILE PHOTO – People walk past a branch of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (MUFG) in Tokyo, Japan, May 16, 2016. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo
Mainichi Shimbun also claimed that the bank is planning to create its own token, that should have the equal value of the japanese yen. Local media outlets reported that MUFG’s token would serve as a crypto-asset to protect traders against market volatility. This token therefore would have the same function as the theter, which operates as a counterpart of the dollar for digital assets.
The bank haven’t unveiled the date of the lauch of their new platform, but the news that the biggest bank in the country is planning to enter the cryptocurrency market could be a very good one for Japanese exchange market.