The project called ‘Blockchain Angel Fund’ aims at supporting blockchain companies in Japan.
Japanese bitcoin exchange Bitflyer has contributed to the development of the blockchain. It has started the ‘Blockchain Angel Fund’ supporting and investing in blockchain businesses in Japan.
Bitflyer has already invested ¥50m, which is approximately equals to $421,000, in the fund. In the press release the company states that the first startup to get support is Sivira. Bitflyer is especially interested in the Sivira platform “hublive” that connects the burgeoning IoT with distributed ledger technology. This investment is seen as a way to “build a global network by expansion into Asia, Europe and the United States.”
Bitflyer reveals that in its activity the company will strive to focus on seed funding, adopting the Bitflyer expertise and “know-how” to fintech investments, using the Bitflyer network to expand portfolio companies abroad, promoting portfolio companies to larger groups already associated with Bitflyer, and of course, provision of introductions for subsequent rounds.
Bitflyer not only gets involved in the blockchain development, but it also aims at leading the regional charge in advancing Japanese companies to the world market. Taking into consideration the overall interest in the blockchain, Bitflyer makes a wise step now. As an investor, it chose one of the most promising spheres.
Bitflyer is a bitcoin exchange and marketplace that offers customers convenient and reliable ways to buy, sell, and spend bitcoins. It has already raised $7.6 million in funding, which makes it one of the most noteworthy Japanese companies in the industry.
Blockchain has been receiving powerful backing recently. Banks from all over the world have united under the command of New York-based financial innovation firm R3 CEV to study and adopt the technology for financial sphere. The consortium strives to develop robust shared ledger solutions. Blockchain is characterized by a low risk of fraud and high level of transparency which makes it able to transform financial market technology platforms.
R3 blockchain project has already made a move and tested a system intended to apply blockchain for making trading much faster and cheaper. The 11 banks-participants from four continents used a Microsoft platform, which runs on a blockchain built on Ethereum, for the test.
Each bank used its own computer and transferred “Ether” to each other – Ethereum’s equivalent of bitcoin. The transactions were settled almost instantaneously. To compare, traditionally banks need several days for settlement, depending on the asset class.
The test means that R3 consortium moved into a new phase and started executing plans and demonstrating how blockchain might work in practice.
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