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Major financial institutions in Japan are moving to blockchain to simplify digital identity systems.
Japan’s third largest bank, Mizuho Bank, and local payments giant JCB are preparing to experiment with a blockchain-based digital identity interoperability system. The new system will use a blockchain solution developed by Fujitsu Laboratories, Fujitsu announced Thursday.
The new joint initiative will enable companies to verify mechanisms to securely transfer and link member ID information from multiple economic operators. This data includes names, addresses and employers stored on a cloud platform created by Fujitsu. The pilot project will also involve 100 employees of the Fujitsu group. The pilot project is expected to last around four months.
All three companies – Fujitsu, Mizuho Bank, and JCB – have expressed some interest in the blockchain industry in recent years.
Fujitsu has been applying blockchain technology to digital identity management tools since 2019. In July 2019, Fujitsu Laboratories introduced its blockchain-based solution to assess the identity of users’ credentials and trustworthiness in online transactions. The tool reportedly allows users to assign each member a “trust score” based on user ratings stored on a blockchain.
In late 2019, JCB, Japan’s leading credit card issuer, announced plans to adopt a new blockchain-based business-to-business payment solution. To develop the platform, the company partnered with the blockchain-based commercial payments platform Paystand. In May, JCB also partnered with technology accelerator Techfund to build a sustainable transaction system on the blockchain.
In February 2019, Mizuho Financial Group also announced plans to launch a digital currency platform for payment and remittance services.
