Japan's Largest Financial Institution To Issue Yen-Pegged Stable Coin, Progmacoin

The stable coin, called Progmacoin, will be used for clearing and settlements of digital securities related to the bank

Despite its extremely volatile nature, cryptocurrency has managed to create a niche audience for itself. Despite risks, more and more people are willing to invest in it. This has given a sort of acceptance to the world of these virtual currencies, so far mainly driven by private crypto coins. With their rising acceptability, many central banks are now looking at them holistically and taking note of their potential. This sense of developing ‘trust' has led private institutions to lean into the new industry to see how they can capitalize on the emerging sector as soon as possible.

The latest to join the bandwagon is Japan's biggest financial institution Mitsubishi UFJ Bank. The trust arm of Mitsubishi has announced plans to launch a yen-pegged stable coin, called “Progmacoin”, in 2023.

Why now?

According to the company's announcement, reported by Nikkei first, the stable coin will be used for clearing and settlements of digital securities related to the bank. The need for Progmacoin to settle transactions in digital securities arose because the bank plans to launch a digital securities exchange in partnership with Japan's SBI Group and Daiwa Securities later this year. It wants a way to settle transactions instantly, without waiting for the bank to enter the data into the ledger at the end of the day, which is usually the case.