SBI Holdings, R3 to establish joint venture to promote Corda blockchain platform in Asia

Japanese financial services giant SBI Holdings is going to establish a joint venture with U.S.-based enterprise blockchain software firm R3 in January 2019, Nikkei reported.

The new venture will aim to promote R3’s Corda blockchain platform in Asia, including Japan, R3 CEO David Rutter said at a recently held press conference.

“Europe is the most advanced in blockchain product development,” R3 CEO David Rutter told Nikkei (as quoted by Cointelegraph). “The new joint venture will strengthen the Japanese language service, and promote adoption.”

SBI Holdings joined the blockchain consortium led by R3 back in 2016. Earlier this year, SBI Bank, the Russian commercial banking subsidiary of SBI Holdings, also joined the consortium to introduce new innovative financial services that utilize Corda in Russian market.

SBI Holdings have been actively involved in a number of crypto and blockchain initiatives. This includes the setting up of a joint venture with blockchain startup Ripple, called SBI Ripple Asia, and the launch of its virtual currency exchange, VCTRADE, to the public.

In September 2018, SBI Holdings, in collaboration with tech startup Orb, announced that it was going to start the trial of “S coin” which it describes as “a settlement coin that allows charge and settlement on smartphone.”