The fourth largest bank in the world, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. bared its plans to launch its own cryptocurrency exchange this year.
Reports from Japan indicate that MUFG has already informed the Financial Services Agency (JFSA) of their decision to launch an exchange.
The bank is popular for working on issuing its own cryptocurrency.
The plan as it now seems is that by governing the exchange where people can trade this MUFG Coin, the bank could subdue extreme fluctuations in its price so it can be used for shopping, settlements and remittances.
The rationale is that the new cryptocurrency would be secured at around JP¥1, but not fixed in advanced so as to circumvent regulations regarding issuing and transmitting such private money in Japan.
While MUFG imagines its coin to be used to make stable transactions in Japan, once the cryptocurrency would be issued out in the wild, global traders can use it for other uses as well.
One interesting application is for it to be utilized in exchanging pairs on non-fiat exchanges instead of USTD, backed by the largest bank in Japan instead of Tether.
The bank is said to be working on another service for Japanese cryptocurrency traders, the MUFJ Trust – would keep client holdings in accounts which can link to exchanges but without sending the money to their control.
Identical to how segregated accounts are used to guard foreign exchange traders, this can defend client funds at the bank in case the trading company is somehow hacked or goes bankrupt.
The service would also oversee accounts for suspicious activity and uncommon transactions, which could get flagged for closer examination instead of being processed.
The service, which will be initially available just for bitcoin, is expected to launch in April 2018 or as soon as the JFSA recognizes bitcoin as an asset that can be placed in a trust.
This will be the first ever trust pact for cryptocurrencies, according to its application for patent protection.
Benefiting from the protection of MUFJ Trust’s would cost a fee, but “customers will feel peace of mind knowing that a trust bank is managing their assets,” according to CEO Noriyuki Hirosue of Tokyo-based exchange Bitbank.
