Japanese Banks, E-Commerce Giant Ramp Up Blockchain Development

Blockchain technology has gotten a major boost in Japan as Rakuten has committed itself to the research and development of blockchain solutions for e-commerce. Meanwhile, Ripple’s Asian branch has announced a new bank consortium to build and deploy a blockchain-enabled platform for payments and settlements.
Japan’s internet and e-commerce giant Rakuten has opened a new blockchain lab in Belfast, Ireland, dedicated to developing blockchain applications for the fintech and e-commerce sectors. The launch of the Rakuten Blockchain Lab (RBL) follows the firm’s acquisition of Bitnet Technologies, a bitcoin startup specializing in merchant payment solutions.
Rakuten, which participated in Bitnet’s US$14.5 million Series A funding round in late 2014, had been partnering with the startup since March 2015 to allow bitcoin payments on its e-commerce platform.
The new lab is headed up by Bitnet co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Stephen McNamara and Vice President of Engineering Fergal Downey.

This post was published at Bitcoin Magazine on Aug 24, 2016.