Binance makes strides in Japan despite these legal setbacks in the West

Posted: September 26, 2023

• Binance Japan could launch stablecoins in the region in collaboration with MUTB
• MUTB is the subsidiary of the financial giant – Mitsubishi USJ Financial Group

Binance – the world’s largest crypto exchange by trade volume – seems to be accelerating its development in the East. This was despite troubles with regulatory authorities in the West. According to a report by Coinpost, the exchange could introduce a new stablecoin in Japan in collaboration with a leading financial institution.

Binance to aid stablecoin growth in Japan?

The institution in the spotlight is MUTB, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi USJ Financial Group – the largest financial institution in Japan. The platform reportedly announced that it would begin to cooperate with Binance Japan to jointly launch two new stablecoins in the country. These stablecoins would be pegged to the Japanese Yen and the U.S. Dollar.

Additionally, the stablecoins will see their launch on multiple blockchain platforms, including Ethereum and Polygon. Notably, this plan would be leveraging Mitsubhishi’s Progmat Coin platform, which is compliant with Japanese regulations.

The country passed a stablecoin bill in June 2022, making it one of the first to do so. The bill brought clarity to the definition of stablecoins, classifying them as digital money that is linked to a legal tender.

Moreover, stablecoins have been termed as an “electronic payment method” under the revised Payment Services Act, and the Progmat platform was developed in accordance with this act.

Strides in the East, setbacks in the West

While Binance has been making strides in Japan, the crypto exchange faces legal hurdles in the West, particularly in the U.S. The exchange set foot back in Japan after a five-year break. This was facilitated with the acquisition of Sakura Exchange BitCoin in November 2022. And, it started its operations in August of this year by rebranding as Binance Jappan K.K. The crypto platform now provides services for 34 cryptocurrencies.

Meanwhile, things are heating up for the exchange in the US as several of its C-suite executives have left Binance.US. Matters started going downhill for the exchange ever since the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) took action against it.

The commission sued the exchange, BAM, and its CEO – Changpeng Zhao for violating securities laws. In the latest developments, Binance moved to dismiss the lawsuit arguing inadequate evidence provided by the SEC.