Japan intends to launch its national digital currency, while Sweden is preparing a centralized cryptocurrency – e-krona.
This week, the consortium of Japan’s global and regional banks, including Mizuho Financial Group and Japan Post Bank, joined their efforts to create a new cryptocurrency – the J-Coin – by 2020.
They plan to develop the coin that will be pegged to the yen. The new digital currency will be used for electronic and international payments. With the help of the new technology, the banks are going to compete with such giants as Alibaba and ApplePay. The developed system will allow its users to withdraw the yen from an account and convert it into the J-Coin through a mobile phone app.
Meanwhile, Europe is also considering the launch of a national cryptocurrency. Sweden turned out to be the most active European country in creating its cryptocurrency and is likely to become the first country to fully replace cash money with digital.
The Swedish central bank calculated that in 2016 15% of all payments were made with cash, while the rest were made via payment cards, mobile wallets and other payment methods. It is 40% less than in 2010. This made local banks consider creation of a digital currency. However, according to them, the new cryptocurrency should not be based on the same technology as bitcoin. As an alternative to bitcoin, the so-called e-krona may be offered.
The Swedish authorities believe that an official virtual currency can combine the advantages of both fiduciary money and independent cryptocurrencies.
