Blockchain Firm ConsenSys Inks Deal With Shinsei Bank, Nippon Wealth

Japan’s Shinsei Bank has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with blockchain technology firm ConsenSys to expand its investigation of the technology’s applications for finance. According to a press release issued the same day, the MoU is a business alliance connecting Shinsei Bank, Singapore private equity fund Tribay Capital, Hong Kong-based Nippon Wealth and ConsenSys.

The last mentioned was established in 2014 by Joseph Lubin, co-founderof Ethereum (ETH), and is right now headquartered in New York. The association between the four entities will concentrate on investigating the use of ConsenSys’ decentralized applications (DApps) to build new fintech products and solutions, with Nippon Wealth initiating a study of blockchain infrastructure and framework for the banking sector.

The press release further states that Nippon Wealth has completed a capital infusion through a third-party allotment of shares of OJBC Co., Ltd., its holding company. The union implies that Tribay Capital will end up as new shareholder of Nippon, with Shinsei Bank in any case remaining its majority shareholder — holding 50% of shareholder rights. Following the research, the parties have demonstrated they will introduce blockchain-related products and information about new services on their banking platforms “at a later date.”

Earlier this week, a cybersecurity subsidiary of Japan’s Nomura Research Institute (NRI) declared a new blockchain security warning tool while affirming an association with ConsenSys. As elaborated recently, blockchain is turning out to be a main focus of Japan’s conventional financial segment, with multinational IT firm Fujitsu reporting late October its plans to develop an interbank settlement framework utilizing blockchain innovation as portion of a joint venture with nine local banks.

Japan’s financial services giant SBI Group also debuted in October a Ripple (XRP)-powered settlement system that uses Ripple’s xCurrent solution to enable “real- time” domestic bank-to-bank transfers.