Five Japanese banks have collaborated to launch a financial services infrastructure based on distributed ledger technology (DLT), the finance platform confirmed in a press release on March 1. Bank of Iwate, Bank of Yokohama, Aomori Bank, Akita Bank and Yamanashi Chuo Bank will work together on the platform, dubbed “Fitting Hub.” The first service available on the platform — electronic delivery service — should launch in April. The press release states that such a collaborative system based on conventional database technology would be complicated the separation of data control, “but in this platform, by combining distributed register technology and the …

The beginning of the year was particularly eventful for the Japanese crypto ecosystem, which is generally considered to be a major part of the industry. First of all, Japan’s Central Bank (BoJ) issued a study on the role of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in the current monetary system, a topic that was widely discussed by the country’s officials last year. Secondly, major domestic trading company and investment bank, Marubeni Corporation and Daiwa Securities Group, reported blockchain-related advancements in their businesses. Finally, local banking giant Mizuho Financial Group announced the launch of its custom stablecoin. Time to observe this news …

Former CEO of now-defunct Bitcoin (BTC) exchange Mt. Gox, was denied his motion to stay the United States lawsuit against him in light of rehabilitation proceedings in Japan, fintech news agency FinanceFeeds reported on March 1. On Thursday, Feb. 28, the motion by ex-Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles was reportedly denied by the Illinois Northern District Court judge Gary Feinerman. The court also ruled to extend the deadline to submit responses to any already provided discovery requests to May 15, 2019. Karpeles filed a motion to stay the U.S. case launched by former investors on Monday, Feb. 25. In the …

More than 7,000 cases of suspected money laundering tied to crypto were reported to Japanese police in 2018, a more than tenfold increase from the 669 cases over a nine month period during the previous year. The news was reported on Feb. 28 by local English-language daily The Japan Times. In 2017, just 669 cases were reported over a nine month period through December 2017, after new rules taking effect in April 2017 made it mandatory for crypto exchange operators to report transactions suspected to be tied to the movement of illicit funds. The twelve months and 7,096 cases in …

The education units of Japanese multinational conglomerate Sony and IT equipment services firm Fujitsu are to trial blockchain technology for improving the integrity of course records and grade data. The news was officially reported in a press release from Fujitsu today, Feb. 27. The pilot comes via a joint venture between Sony Global Education, Inc., Fujitsu Limited, Fujitsu Research Institute and Human Academy Co., Ltd. — the latter being a language school for foreign students in Japan. Prospective foreign students participating in the blockchain trial will complete a course, “Nihongo Dojo,” which prepares them to pass the Nihongo Kentei, a …

Japanese multinational conglomerate Sony and IT equipment services firm Fujitsu have created an encrypted database for educational proficiency documents, The Asahi Shimbun reports on Feb. 26. The database, which reportedly employs blockchain technology, is used to prevent forgeries of language proficiency documents, which some foreigners purportedly use to receive resident status to study in Japan. Foreigners must submit a Japanese language proficiency certificate to the Immigration Bureau in order to receive resident status to study in Japan. Said certificates can be issued by Japanese educational institutions abroad. Japanese language schools within the country will submit the certificates on behalf of …

Japanese multinational holding conglomerate SoftBank Corp. and American telecoms-focused blockchain firm TBCASoft are to lead a new blockchain-based digital identification study group under the canopy of the Carrier Blockchain Study Group (CBSG). The development was announced in a SoftBank press release on Feb. 26. As previously reported, CBSG — a global blockchain consortium of telecom carriers — was founded in September 2017, in a bid to push greater adoption of the technology in the industry. Alongside Softbank and TBCASoft, the organization counts Taiwan-based telecoms carrier Far EasTone and U.S.-based telecoms firm Sprint as founding members. Today’s announcement reveals that the …

Japan’s solar power supplier Kyocera has partnered with LO3 Energy to test blockchain-based virtual power plants (VPP) for improved energy distribution, according to a press release published on Feb. 25. Scheduled for Feb. 28, 2019, the test will allow the companies to evaluate the the feasibility of VPPs that promote a low-carbon society without fuels or carbon emissions based on peer-to-peer (P2P) distributed consensus network. Within the joint project, Kyocera — which has 81.79 billion yen ($736 million) in net income — will set up small VPPs using its solar photovoltaic (PV) modules and batteries, while New York-based LO3 Energy …

Japan’s banking giant Mizuho Financial Group will launch its bespoke stablecoin for payments and remittance services on March 1, local financial newspaper Nikkei Asian Review reports on Feb. 21. In a partnership with around 60 counterpart financial institutions — which together reportedly host 56 million user accounts — Mizuho’s new “J-Coin” digital currency platform will reportedly directly link existing bank accounts with digital wallets. Mizuho Financial Group is a public banking holding company that reported over $1.8 trillion in total assets as of Dec. 31, 2018. The currency will reportedly be managed by a dedicated mobile app, dubbed J-Coin Pay, …

Daiwa Securities Group, Japan’s second largest securities brokerage, has announced the completion of a blockchain proof-of-concept (PoC) in a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Feb. 19. The PoC implemented blockchain in the trade matching of post-trade processing. The blockchain pilot project, dubbed “JPX Proof-of-Concept Testing for Utilization of Blockchain / DLT in Capital Market Infrastructure,” involved 26 companies, including financial institutions, system providers and institutional investors. The reported goal of the pilot — which just completed the second of two phases — was to increase the efficiency of blockchain tech in the post-trade process. According to the results of …

Japanese general trading company Marubeni Corporation has partnered with a New York-based blockchain startup to use the technology for its energy business, Marubeni confirmed in a press release on Feb. 20. Marubeni, which has expanded beyond Japan into the United States as well as Europe, selected LO3 Energy’s transactive energy platform as the basis for an ongoing pilot project. The Japanese firm is the country’s fifth largest sōgō shōsha — a type of Japanese company that trades in a variety of products and materials. Using blockchain, the aim of the partnership is to increase automation and efficiency in Marubeni’s renewable …

Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO and representative director of Japanese financial services giant SBI Holdings, has singled out Ripple (XRP) and blockchain consortium R3 as reasons to remain optimistic about the future of the crypto industry — bear market notwithstanding. Kitao made his remarks during an interview with Japanese crypto news outlet Coin Post on Feb. 18. SBI Holdings is an active partner of Ripple via their joint venture, “SBI Ripple Asia,” established to promote the use of XRP in Asian financial markets back in 2016. In his interview with Coin Post, Kitao underscored that the protracted crypto market slump is not …