MUFG to facilitate Japanese bank-backed stablecoins via Progmat Coin platform

Megabank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) has announced that its “Progmat Coin” stablecoin issuance platform will soon be used by Japanese banks to launch yen-pegged stablecoins on several public blockchains.

Japanese banks have recently signaled their intention to review or launch stablecoins following new regulations that came into force this month.

Mid-2022, the Japanese government passed a bill which prohibited the issuance of stablecoins by non-banking institutions. The bill officially entered into force on June 1, 2023.

In a June 2 announcementMUFG reported that the Progmat Coin will be used to facilitate the issuance of bank-backed stablecoins on Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, and Cosmos, with more networks to be added in the future.

MUFG also revealed that its blockchain technology and security partners TOKI and Datachain are building a bridge to enable cross-chain transactions, loans and exchanges between the list of supported blockchains.

The bank expects the cross-chain infrastructure to launch in the second quarter of 2022.

MUFG initially announced Progmat Coin in February 2022, with the goal of providing an interoperable “universal digital asset payment method” for stablecoins, other crypto assets, and even a Japan-based Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

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MUFG has not revealed which banks will be the first to use Program Coin, however, it confirmed to Cointelegraph at the time of Progmat Coin’s announcement last year that it was working on launching its own yen-pegged stablecoin. .

According to a June 1 report from Nikkei Asia, Shikoku Bank, Tokyo Kiraboshi, and Minna Bank are all planning to issue stablecoins, however, it appears that they will not be using Program Coin to do so.

The post states that these banks will use a separate stablecoin platform developed by Tokyo-based startup GU Technologies.

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