As the bitcoin trade becomes the new mainstream in Japan, leading financial firms are intervening to offer services in order to preserve their market share.
MUFG, the country's largest bank, now plans to launch its own exchange, a linked cryptocurrency and segregated Bitcoin accounts for clients of other exchanges.
MUFG Exchange and linked currency
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: MTU), the fourth largest bank in the world, plans to launch its own crypto market this year.
According to the country's reports, MUFG has already notified the Financial Services Agency (JFSA) about the decision to launch a crypto-exchange.
It is known that the bank is working on issuing its own cryptocurrency. The plan, as it seems now, is that by controlling the exchange where people can market this MUFG currency, the bank could suppress the drastic fluctuations in its price so that it can be used for purchases, settlements and remittances in a stable manner.
The idea is that the new cryptocurrency will remain tied to around JP ¥ 1, but that it will not rise in an advanced manner to circumvent regulations regarding the issuance and transmission of such private money in Japan.
While MUFG only displays its currency used to make stable transactions in Japan, once the cryptocurrency is released, global operators can also give it other uses.
An interesting application is that it be used in trading pairs in non-fixed exchanges instead of USTD, backed by Japan's largest bank instead of Tether.
Segregated Bitcoin Accounts
According to reports, the bank is working on another service for Japanese cryptocurrency operators, MUFJ Trust: it will keep the clients' holdings in accounts that can link to the exchanges but without sending the money to their control.
Just as segregated accounts are used to protect currency traders, this can safeguard customer funds in the bank in the event that the trading company is pirated or broken.
The service will also control accounts of suspicious activity and unusual transactions, which could be marked for inspection instead of being processed.
It is expected that the service, which initially will be available only for Bitcoin, will be launched in April 2018 or as soon as JFSA recognizes Bitcoin as an asset that can be placed in a trust.
This will be the first transfer agreement for cryptocurrencies according to your patent protection application. Enjoying the benefit of MUFJ Trust would be costly, but "customers will feel reassured knowing that a trust bank is managing their assets," said general manager Noriyuki Hirosue of Bitbank, a Tokyo-based company.