According to a recent announcement, JCB, one of the largest credit card companies in Japan entered a strategic partnership with Venture Capital firm TECHFUND with a goal to develop a payment system with the help of blockchain technology.
The press release released by JCB global indicated that the aim is to construct a sustainable payment system that will also include other technological factors such as machine learning embedded through business analytics. The press release stated,
“Currently, we are focusing on supporting blockchain and STO projects, and are also developing and providing “ACCEL BaaS (Blockchain as a Service)” that “accelerates” development of startup and enterprise blockchain applications. Supporters include staking business EtherSecurity.”
However, it is not the first time JCB has been making moves towards the inclusion of blockchain in their organization. The financial enterprise, which is Japan’s premier business to business payments firms, had entered a partnership with Singapore blockchain technology provider Keychain in December 2019. The use of blockchain was a key aspect of that partnership as well.
JCB has been taking measured steps over the years, as its collaboration with commercial payments platform PayStand got the ball rolling in the first place.
As mentioned earlier, JCB is one of the leading credit card issuing companies in Japan and had annual revenues of over $2.7 billion dollars in 2018. As of today, JCB Credit Cards can be used in 23 countries around the world at the moment.
Japan and its venture in Blockchain and Crypto
Several financial institutions in the Asian country have been vocally raising their support for blockchain and crypto-assets over the past few years, with crypto-friendly SBI holdings leading the rally in the country. In January 2020, it was also announced that SBI Holdings will give shareholders the option to receive the XRP cryptocurrency as a benefit.
Over the next decade, the country may possibly become a global force in terms of improving financial remittances and payments in the global financial sector.