Bitcoin Forum

I've always seen Japan as a country that would make the first move considering this. Is this the huge step for motivating other countries to follow Japans footsteps? Tho they're not considering blockchain technology to go with it because it isn't "'mature' enough to handle transactions",  
can this have a bigger impact on the bitcoin as well? Also, I see that it would go 1/1 ratio with yen and a coin, so would that mean that the price will be fixed?

Now we have a discussion here. Japan is always known to have a very good economy and we all know that once it give a try into cryptocurrencies we can assure that it will go boom.

This is the reference link https://cointelegraph.com/news/japan-considers-launching-j-coin-eliminating-cash-before-tokyo-2020-games

The article states that it "may" be based on blockchain technology, while the comment on the maturity of blockchain technology came from BOJ rather than part of the article. Otherwise its a cool indicator that the scope of blockchain technology is increasing and getting wider acceptance. Very positive beginnings.

But is it decentralized ???

i have recently read the article that there is possibility The J-Coin is intended to function in tandem with the Yen, rather than replacing it so if this is happened the effect maybe for bitcoin itself not for Yen as Japan the current currency and we all know currently Japan is one of the biggest market for bitcoin and if Japan launching J-coin which mean people at there will more likely to use J-coin rather than bitcoin

obviously NO.

and that is going to always be the edge that bitcoin gains. additionally i do not see what would be the point of making such a coin which is also heavily restricted to one country.
with bitcoin in 2020 every person in the world who owns bitcoin (which is a global currency) can go to Japan and start spending without worrying about exchanging to local currency nor paying taxes.

Exactly, but I don't see any official announcement by the Japanese, if they starting making cryptocurrency then every country will follow them because it may become more popular in all the countries.

even so. if their JCoin will be equivalent to how much their yen will be, its still like the tether(USDT) whcih can still be listed on exchanges. if this can be realized, its a good start for their new economy. lesser traders will be on JPY/USD too. its going to be easy for those who wants to buy JPY and import products from them.

This move of japan only shows that they know what they are doing, if japan launches their j-coin and gets rid of their yen, people will do transactions with japan, using cryptocurrency, and we must keep in mind, some of our cars are madr in japan, a lot og toys are made in japan, anime is made in japan, i think, if they do it, a lot of people will go to japan and try to use j-coin for transsctions, i think it will not matter then if it is decentralized or not for japan, their economy will just boom, and for sure you will need bitcoin to exchange to their crypto coin, thus making their country a tourist attraction for people with bitcoins, plus they can use all their talent for marketing. I just hope this all turn out well, and soon, countries will follow, so that we can make use of our bitcoins for travel as well and not to exchange it anymore to fiat that really takes a lot of time.

i see this being the more likely possibility, i can't see japan completely phasing out the yen for a digital currency in this day and age. why? for international trade. i can't see the rest of the world just up and adopting j - coin along with japan for the purposes of trade.of course, japan could use a different nation's currency as a means of international trade, but i don't think we'll see that happening. in any case, for a timeline of 2020, that gives just a bit over 2 years to convert to a completely digital economy, and i just can't see that happening considering the infrastructure that would have to be established in such a short time to support such a massive system. japan does have a lot of cashless solution in place already, such as the suica travel cards, but a lot of merchants do not even have card readers and only take cash there. to completely restructure the system like that, i think the nation would need at least 5 years at an accelerated pace of development, with 7 or 8 being more realistic.

My assumption is after launching the Jcoin the stages of phasing out the Yen was already in place. The Yen will not be replaced by digital currency until the last person is still using it. I once watched a documentary about a train, to be phased out in Japan, but one passenger student is still using that train to be able to go to school. They did not phase out the train, until the student graduated and it takes several years.

that and this topic are not even remotely close to being comparable in any sense of the word. and before you even say anything, i've read up on the topic of the student being the sole passenger of that train too. we're talking about the complete shift from a fiat currency system, which the great majority of the world uses in this day and age, to a completely digital form of currency; it;s been tried before with auroracoin, but i havent really kept up with is, im assuming it failed. this isn't at all comparable to the government keeping a railway open for one student to be attend school; are you able to comprehend this? this isnt even about phasing out something for a replacement, the railway was to be closed, and is being kept open so a student could attend school up to their graduation. just. stop.

fuck that! you really have to give respect to them even after that fucking war  :D
i saw how disciplined these people are when i visited japan years ago when they were doing some street repairs, they do it night and day to finish what they started. i hope they can also start implementing blockchain and be cashless in the future.

Jcoin will not replace Yen, they've said that, and it will be used next to to Yen. It will be 1:1 ratio as you can see it. It's not their goal to replace Yen.

Well japan always is first when it comes to innovations so if they actually do this, it boost btc stock even more and perhaps it will fast track btc's acceptance in other countries.

I dont know what is happening in japan, but I think japan is a developed country, they are not afraid bitcoin will be a problem on the yen. because they believe almost the effect of their policies.
of course this will be seen by the world, and maybe other countries will follow in the footsteps of japan, of course in the developed country.
because it will not interfere with their real currency. that's what I thought.

this would be an interesting project if its for real, as i knew japan really embracing the concept of crypto and if they will create their own coins
for sure they will not allow any possibilities that it will be ruined their reputations we knew japan for its great success in terms of technology so
they can use that to implement and for this project to be more successful.

Japan is the most cash heavy developed country by miles and miles. Anywhere else would be an easier achievement than there. Something like 85% of transactions are cash. How the hell are they going to wean their population off it in a couple of years?

Japan is the country with a lot of innovation and this is one of them. So this is going to be like usdt, fixed 1:1 with yen right? 2020 is near and i'm not sure they can complete the move at that time and even if they complete it, no trial run first?

now this is a very interesting thread topic!!!

Im not sure I agree with Nahl above, OK J-Coin may be
a blockchain based currency but it will be centralised
which will be completely different to Bitcoin.
It might introduce more people to Bitcoin though.

Here is the real reason behind the move >

"The service for the coin would be offered freely but would be a means
of tracking transactions that is far more complex in a cash-based society."

Anything more concrete than a consideration? 2020 isn't that far away. According to news, other countries considers launching national digital coins, including Palestine, since some years ago, and so far nothing of concrete happened.

I do not believe that now any country can do without ordinary paper money, only applying crypto currency. To do this, it is necessary to create a number of necessary conditions such as complete computerization of the country, the widespread introduction of high technologies, the necessary theoretical and practical skills of owning a crypto currency by all citizens of the country without exception, and so on. This level has not yet reached any country in the world.

They are not speaking of replacing Yen with crypto, read the post, they just want to implement it next to Yen with the 1:1 ratio, so people can use whatever they like more.

If it becomes fixed it may take time. But I also think Japan is the leading country to appreciate bitcoin.

Article from 2014.
https://www.ft.com/content/a7dc2cfc-9fa0-11e3-94f3-00144feab7de
Yet according to MasterCard, 38 per cent of Japanese consumer transactions are still conducted in cash.
So Financial Times data is reliable as a brazilian penguin. (don't ask , lol)

Also the title is misleading.
The article says:

There is nothing about eliminating cash in that or a time frame for it.

Also IT IS NOT the Bank of Japan who is going to launch it.

https://www.ft.com/content/ca0b3892-a201-11e7-9e4f-7f5e6a7c98a2

A consortium of banks, led by Mizuho Financial Group and Japan Post Bank, has won support from the country’s central bank and financial regulator to launch the J Coin, an electronic currency to pay for goods and transfer money using smartphones.
It's more like paypal than bitcoin.

Japan has always been a country step ahead of the whole world. Even India has decided to launch its very own cryptocurrency named lakshmi. But I think that these crypto eliminate the decentralizing feature so they are nowhere close to bitcoins.

Japan has always wanted to be at the forefront with electronic money and all that this involve , I would not be surprised if it becomes the first cashless country, however Switzerland is not far from this reality.

Looks like Japanese legalization of Bitcoin is making us to lose it! The fact remains that, no government would be comfortable with a currency it cannot fully control and it should be obvious that this move is only to translate Yen to digital money - J-coin, not a cryptocurrency and hence the 1:1 ratio. Bitcoin with blockchain serves as specimen or better still guinea pig. What are you guys thinking, Japanese legalization might well be a subtle move to master blockchain  so they would be able to tame it.

How would this work out for them when they want to do quantitative easing? Any economists here who have an opinion on that?

The concept behind J-Coin sounds more like M-Pesa/Apple Pay, mobile-based payment system rather than a cryptocurrency, used for buying goods and services rather than being traded on exchanges.

Japan is a cash-based economy, only around 14% of transactions are cashless and these transactions are dominated by Apple and Alibaba so starting a local electronic payment system that is pegged 1:1 with JPY is a sensible approach to move towards a cashless society from a dominating cash-based economy.

A coin for a whole country, initiated by the government? This would be indeed unique. Is there more information to that, as the reference in page 1 does not work anymore.

As bitcoin have got a legal acceptance getting used similar to the conventional currency, there is no need of such a new token targeting the Tokyo games. This will surely decrease the usage of bitcoin when the token comes out for usage, because it's been developed by the government and the government will surely insist to go with J-coin. Maybe the legalization might be an initiation for people to understand about the digital currencies.

They should call it "Yen" because that's what it is. If a government claims they are making a digital currency they either don't know what the fuck they're talking about or they're lying to you. Every developed nation already has digital currency - most currency is digital!

What they may mean to say is that they're going to:

(1) Eliminate the use of cash by forcing people to use their currency via a blockchain based system

(2) Shifting transactions to a blockchain ledger

(3) Instilling more control and visibility into transactions of their currency

News like this just adds another reason to adopt a decentralized currency - Bitcoin!

I don't think it will replace yen, cause J coin would be valid only within Japan and this would be a regulated coin, so I feel it shall see a taped response, will it effect Bitcoins, no I don't feel so, for the simple reason this jcoin will be tradable only with yen, and not a other FIAT's so I don't think it will be that lucrative to me or others outside Japan, plus it's price will be fixed and regulated who would like to have such a coin, I feel this would not succeed, and people will move towards to Bitcoins only.

"elimination of cash" is not simply going to happen in a couple of years (nearly 3 now if they release the coin today!) so that is just another speculation probably by another poorly written article on of these click-bait sites.
in any case it won't help the Japanese to do something like this for the 2020 games because it will still be "their currency" and limited to their country not a global thing.

in comparison bitcoin which is global will help them and the tourists that visit their country a lot since they can already have bitcoin and carry it with themselves on their phones or their hardware wallets and easily spend it there.

Could almost see it coming especially from a country trying to digitise almost everything. Their priorities are very much visioned on long term betterment for the entire country. This would mean that by 2020, streets and shops are going to have digitised payment gateways which seems to be perfect to lead way for other countries to follow suite.

I think its too early to adopt crypto currency as your main currency in a country. Because Japan has Billions dollar auto and tech industry, which will have hard time to digest crypto currency at this moment. But within next 7 to 10 years, yeah it's possible.

This will be 1/1 ratio coin they would make it decentralized coin for sure this coin would replace the current currency but completely transferring is impossible we still live in a world where internet is still paid or the free  wifi isn't secure.
The speed will play a important role if the funds are taking time to show up it will be a waste and lastly what about the poor no matter how developed or rich a country can be poor people still exist how will they be able to afford technology or atleast a smartphone.

If that's the case then my expectations for Japan is on point. Even back then when they are neck and neck with China I've been rooting for Japan. And this action of them just proved how well they handle technology and that they have better understanding with cryptos rather than other countries who banned btc. Having the ratio of 1:1 between Yen and J-coin then I believe that the price is fixed and either they want to replace their current currency or they just want to add J-coin as their legal currency. And overall I think this is good news.

You guys are totally adrift and perhaps not on this bus! where did it say that Japan is planning on adopting a cryptocurrency as main currency or where did it say J-coin is going to be decentralized or that an average Japanese cannot afford a smart phone? Most failures in exams happen because people invest their own questions instead of the one put across to them by their examiner.

Can't say that japan statement about blockchain system not mature enough is wrong, see right now, bitcoin can't handle the transaction resulting high fee. not a really convenient way for digital currency.
but I think that by the time we'll have the solution to this problem, hopefully.

Japan wants to stop using physical money until the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
Japanese banks are considering creating a national digital currency, J-Coin, to eliminate physical money. The initiative has the support of Japanese financial regulators can be put into practice before the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. J-Coin would work in conjunction with the yen, current Japanese currency. The currency would be exchanged in value from one to one and the service would be offered for free. The government sees it as a possibility to track more complex transactions, although it has not yet defined whether the technology to be used will be Blockchain.

sure, there's no actual need for it, as is the same with most other things in this world. however, the main point here is that there's no real reason not to have it. besides, there arent many downsides that this little experiment could have, aside from some bad pr if the project were to bomb. when the coin is released to the public, actual exposure to cryptocurrency would increase dramatically, and people might feel more comfortable with the idea of using cryptocurrency if they don't already by using one created and backed by the government. one though that comes to mind is that the japanese government might be using this was a means to move japan forward with use of digital currency (and i don't specifically just mean cryptocurrencies, but also credit cards and the like in general usage) as paper cash is still used more often than not; a lot of restaurants and merchants don't even have card readers to be used form personal experience, and only accept cash as the means of payment.