Today, I want to talk about some interesting news coming out of Japan.

Japan’s largest bank and the world's fourth-largest bank named Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. or MUFG has stated that they are launching their own cryptocurrency coin. MUFG coins will have a value of 1 Japanese yen per coin. They are also launching their own crypto exchange. This is a kind of unexpected double-dip situation in my opinion. As you know, bitcoin is currently a legal currency in Japan and using it for business is widely accepted. Bitcoin is pretty big in Japan. This bank is obviously trying to capitalize on this and get some of that momentum some of the trading volume and so forth. They might be also trying to see if their coin will be adopted.

Japanese investors and exchanges have played a major role in pushing cryptocurrency valuations to new highs. Along with South Korea, Japan accounts for a majority of trading volumes in prominent cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and Ethereum. Banking consortiums from the two countries are also collaborating to test money transfer using blockchain technology from Ripple.
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I've already seen a lot of Japanese people living here in Japan against the coin. They say no one's going to use it and why would they, because they’ve already adopted bitcoin, as far as making a cryptocurrency in making it legal. So I don't think the bank’s coin is going to go very far. Honestly, there isn’t as big of a potential there compared to Bitcoin in Japan. What’s great to hear is that they’re launching their own cryptocurrency where bank customers can easily trade crypto. And it will be segregated accounts of course. It’s not going to be entirely linked to your bank account where you put your bank account at risk. But it makes it very seamless in a way that folks who are already customers there can easily start reading cryptos such as Bitcoin and altcoins. So, I think this move demonstrates how cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are already being realized by traditional financial institutions like banks and they’re really eager to benefit from the reduced costs that virtual currencies offer by creating your own or using, like for example, Ripple/XRP. They're also trying to get into the crypto market so they can make money off the exchanges as well.

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So, the good thing or the take away from this, I think, for a crypto, is that now when they launch their own exchange, we have another exchange where we can have more investors and more people trading bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This is great if you're holding any specific crypto, because it would be helpful to boost trade volume and may drive the price up significantly, especially in a country where it is being legalized. There's no resistance or fear in a sense of “Can I trust this?” You know, in Japan, everyone knows what it is and how it works. When its already being legalized in Japan, we can expect some benefit there because the market (all Altcoins) are really tied to the hip with bitcoin and bitcoin performs well. I think many also wish or want to see Bitcoin survive. The success of Bitcoin really ripples down to the market.

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This is, once again, very interesting news and it has a big potential just because this is the fourth largest bank in the world and Japan's largest bank itself. Having their own cryptocurrency and being able to get some of their customers over there in using that cryptocurrency exchange to buy bitcoin, invest and trade in other cryptocurrencies will be good for the market. We’re also seeing a lot of sites like Bitstamp or Coinbase. Some of the sites have to sometimes shut down registrations because they can’t handle the volume. There is actually a need for more crypto- exchanges in the market because I think part of what added to the slump in the market is the slow registration or closed registration. Many exchanges are not taking new account holders and when they do, it takes forever to process. So I’d say there’s a need. The more exchanges come out, the better.
I’d say I don't like it tied to a bank specifically but you know that helps customers to start investing more in crypto. -I'm all for it and because of the setup in Japan where the coin is a legal currency, I think this is definitely good news for Bitcoin and crypto as a whole. -Not the bank creating their own coin but rather the cryptocurrency exchange being created by the bank. So that's pretty much the news about this. I think it's very interesting and we'll see what happens. They’re going to be launching this year possibly by April or so. We’ll see what type of volume will be put out at this exchange and its significance to contribute to the overall global average for Bitcoin and other cryptos. So what you guys think about this news? Honestly, I don't like the fact that the bank is creating their your own coin but I think their crypto exchange makes sense. It will be beneficial for us. Please leave your comments below. Thanks!