Fujitsu has been selected by the country’s largest banking association to conduct a test digital currency and blockchain technology for interbank settlements.

It will be in charge as an application development vendor of a field trial of a Collaborative Blockchain Platform developed by the Japanese Bankers Association (JBA), the firm says in a press release. The trial will be conducted by the Japanese banks’ Payment Clearing Network, otherwise known as “Zengin–net”.

Participating FIs include Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Resona Bank, The Joyo Bank, The Bank of Fukuoka, The Nishi’Nippon City Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Bank and the Keiyo Bank.

The Collaborative Blockchain Platform (CBP) is a cooperative field trial environment designed for generating and sharing knowledge relating to blockchain and distributed ledger technology.

Testing the potential of CBP

According to Fujitsu, the trial will focus primarily on evaluating the potential of the CBP for use as a system to transfer settlement funds based on the blockchain. It will also involve the use of a dedicated digital currency for interbank settlements.

The trial’s objective is “to evaluate the functionality of the system as an economical new interbank funds transfer settlement system for small-scale transactions using a real-time gross settlement (RTGS) method. Participants will use the trial to confirm the viability of blockchain technology in this context”.

Fujitsu will build and provide the trial’s ICT platform – the new Interbank Settlement platform – using blockchain technology. It will also leverage the peer-to-peer (P2P) money transfer platform it developed in fiscal 2017 with three major banks to generate the money transfers to other banks that will trigger interbank funds transfer settlement.

Evaluation of issuance, transfer and collection

The issuance, transfer, and collection of the digital currency (fixed at 1 unit = 1 yen) used for interbank settlements will be evaluated in the following by issuance, transfer and collection.

Issuance: After receiving a request from a bank, Zengin-net will issue digital currency to the bank on the new Interbank Settlement platform. Transfer: When the necessity of interbank funds transfer settlement arises (in this case, through the use of the P2P money transfer platform), settlement (interbank payment) will be conducted by transferring digital currency from the originator bank to the receiving bank. Collection: After receiving a request from a bank, Zengin – net will collect the digital currency issued to the bank on the new Inter-bank Settlement platform.

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