What is JCoin and why is it so popular in Japan?

In their bid to embrace a cashless or electronics payment system, Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group along with sixty other banking organizations have together launched a digital wallet known as the J Coin Pay.

In simple terms, J Coin Pay enables people to scan a unique QR code and make payments to any other individual across the nation. But, despite its crypto name, J Coin Pay isn’t actually a cryptocurrency.

So, what is J Coin Pay?
J Coin Pay is a unique digital wallet, which was designed by Japan’s Mizuho Bank in association with several other Japanese banks. The wallet app allows users to send, pay or receive payments to any other individual in the country. Thus, J Coin Pay enables users to put funds into their wallets via their banking accounts and send or pay desired amount to any other person that they intend to.

The entire process of transferring funds is fairly quick and can be conveniently carried out by adding the contact number of the receiver. Alternatively, users can also scan a QR code to send or pay money. At present, as many as 3,255,740 J coins are in circulation and their market capitalization stands at $24,181 USD. In fact, the current price of J Coin is $0.00742703 USD.

Why is it not a Cryptocurrency?
It must be noted that by definition, cryptocurrencies are essentially virtual funds that are secured (encrypted) with the help of the cryptography technique. In essence, cryptography is a unique encryption technique that secures as well as verifies digital transactions.

Thus, cryptocurrencies are decentralized and make use of the blockchain technology for recording and validating digital transactions in a chronological order. However, unlike other digital currencies J Coin does not qualify as a cryptocurrency as it does not make use of the blockchain system. It is basically a digital wallet app for mobile phone users, similar to WeChat and AliPay in China, as well as Paytm used in India.