One of Japan’s leading fintech start-ups, Money Forward, has announced its plans to launch a cryptocurrency exchange this year, possibly by the summer. The company operates a popular personal financial management application, which reportedly has over 5.5 million users.  The new crypto exchange is planned to be launched by the company’s subsidiary MF Financial Company. The exchange will be overlooked by a member of the company’s Blockchain and Virtual Currency Laboratory. 

Along with the exchange, the company also announced plans to launch a digital asset payment system by this year.  The company has been working on the payment system since December last year.  MF is also planning to provide a supplementary toolkit to its users that would provide them with an automated cryptocurrency ledger. This will support the user-inputted data and complement as much as twenty different domestic as well as foreign exchanges. It will also be helpful in simplifying crypto related tax filings as well as calculating profit and loss data from the user’s transaction history.

Japan’s leading financial institutions are already working on facilitating its digital currency sector.  Recently, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), which is world’s fifth largest bank in terms of total assets, successfully carried out a cross-border payment with a Thai bank, using their Blockchain’s Interledger. MUFG also plans to establish its own cryptocurrency and plans to begin its testing. The MUFG coin will function as a true currency, unlike conventional forms of cryptocurrency with a 1-to-1 value against the Japanese Yen.  

Another Japanese exchange, GMO, will have a new expansion to its loan program, expanding it cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and litecoin. Recently, Nomura, the Japan-based global bank also announced plans to establish a solution for digital currency assets, aimed at institutional investment in the crypto market.