Earlier this year El Salvador announced that it would accept Bitcoin as legal tender in the country and recently outlined plans for a Bitcoin city in the Central American nation.

Now Japan is looking at cryptocurrency too, with more than 70 firms creating a consortium that will launch a Yen-backed cryptocurrency in 2022.

According to a report by Reuters, the project which is currently referred to as DCJPY, will see three of the largest financial institutions in Japan back it too.

This plan has been in the works for some time now, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group confirming in a joint press conference this week that talks around this project began last year.

As Engadget points out, some of the other firms that are a part of the consortium include the East Japan Railway Company and Kansai Electric Power Company, which could potentially open up avenues for the yet-to-be-launched crypto to be used to pay for access to services.

The digital currency is expected to be tested in the coming months, but it is important to note that this project differs from the Bank of Japan’s plan to make a digital yen. As such, it looks like the Asian nation is trying to get ahead of the likes of the US and China, who are both said to testing out similar projects in their respective countries.

With Japan still a nation very much driven by paper and coin transactions, projects like this could see the country make some much needed progress as far as the use of modern payment solutions go, which is something the government has previously outlined.

Hopefully such a project could serve as an example to South Africa, which is still struggling to handle the regulation of cryptocurrencies locally.

[Image – Photo by Bryan Pulgar on Unsplash]