Japanese Financial Services Giant Monex Wants to Join Facebook's Libra

Online brokerage Monex Group Inc., owner of the hacked Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck, plans to join the Facebook Libra cryptocurrency project.

A report from Cointelegraph Japan today, July 26, reveals that Monex Group's CEO Oki Matsumoto announced the company had filed an application to join the Libra Association during a press conference on Monex's Q2 2019 financial results earlier this week.

The Libra Association is the newly-established, independent governance consortium for Facebook's planned stablecoin, dubbed Libra, and is currently negotiating with a host of other potential members - including Visa, Uber, Mastercard and eBay.

As Cointelegraph previously reported, prospective Libra Association members must pay $10 million for the privilege.

"I think Libra has great potential, so I want to think positively."

The Monex Group president said that the application would be reviewed initially at the end of August, and that the company would finally decide as to whether to join the Association by the end of September.

As Cointelegraph Japan notes, should Monex Group join the Association, it would be the first Japanese company to do so.

Matsumoto reportedly addressed the positive potential of Libra to broaden financial inclusion in areas such as cross-border remittances and donations to emerging economies.

As reported, a fresh survey from CivicScience has revealed that just 2% of Americans trust Facebook's Libra more than Bitcoin.

Circumspection in regard to Libra has been echoed by citizens, crypto industry figures, governments, regulators and central bankers worldwide.