Binance is planning to launch three stablecoins in Japan next year.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency platform is working with Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation (MUTB) to study issuing stablecoins using “Progmat Coin,” a stablecoin issuance and management platform that is compliant with Japanese law, according to a Tuesday (Sept. 26) press release.
The project will involve the launch of dollar-, yen- and euro-denominated stablecoins, said Takeshi Chino, Binance Japan’s general manager, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
“Stablecoins have important use cases across the broader financial ecosystem,” Chino said in the release. “From a lower-cost and instantaneous cross-border trade settlement for business clients, to the facilitation of trading other cryptocurrencies seamlessly for retail investors — stablecoins fill an important financial services need and are crucial for the success of Web3 adoption.”
Japan began allowing licensed firms to issue stablecoins in June under the revised Payments Services Act, the release said.
Binance plans to obtain a license in Japan as an electronic settlement methods transaction business provider. From there, Chino told Bloomberg, users would be able to use stablecoins to trade cryptocurrencies and potentially access payment services.
Tatsuya Saito, vice president of product at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) and founder and CEO of Progmat, told Bloomberg that the country’s stablecoin market has the potential to reach 5 trillion yen (about $34 billion), which is approximately a quarter of the estimated current global market.
“We believe that the new stablecoin from this collaboration will be a step forward in advancing the Web3,” Saito said in the release. “Progmat is a neutral infrastructure that enables the issuance of various brands of stablecoins with the greatest flexibility of use and the least risk of de-pegging. It does not compete with players issuing their own stablecoins.”
The project is launching as several cryptocurrency companies look to markets outside the United States amid an ongoing regulatory crackdown.
Binance is at the center of the crackdown after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed 13 charges against the company and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, in June.
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