Megabank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) has announced that its stablecoin issuance platform “Progmat Coin” will soon be used by the Bank of Japan to launch yen-pegged stablecoins on multiple public blockchains.
The Bank of Japan recently outlined its intentions to research or launch stablecoins under new regulations that come into effect this month. In mid-2022, the Japanese government passed a bill prohibiting non-bank institutions from issuing stablecoins. The Act will come into force on June 1, 2023.
In a June 2 announcement, MUFG outlined that 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, lending and swapping between supported blockchains.
The bank expects the cross-chain infrastructure to be launched in the second quarter of 2023. MUFG originally announced the launch of Progmat Coin in February 2022, aiming to provide an interoperable "universal digital asset payment method" for stablecoins , other encrypted assets, and even Japan's central digital bank currency. MUFG has not revealed which banks will be the first to use Progmat Coin; however, it confirmed to Cointelegraph at the time of the 2022 announcement that it is working on launching its own yen-pegged stablecoin .
As reported by Nikkei Asia on June 1, Shikoku Bank, Tokyo Kiraboshi, and Minna Bank are all planning to issue stablecoins; however, they do not appear to be using the Progmat Coin platform to do so. The banks will use an independent stablecoin platform developed by Tokyo-based startup GU, the publication said.
