Banking Giant SBI Subsidiary Joins R3 Blockchain Consortium

SBI Bank LLC, a Russia-based commercial bank owned by Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings, is joining the New York City-based banking consortium R3.

In an announcement Friday, the bank said it aims to join the financial group to advance R3's Corda distributed ledger (DLT) platform, and push cross-industry adoption of blockchain technology.

"We regard blockchains as the core of FinTech innovation and are working on various measures both in Japan and abroad. Through this effort, we believe that we can contribute to the progress of the global blockchain field," the group stated.

The news marks yet another financial institution from Japan joining the global banking blockchain consortium. Previously, a group of Japanese financial firms conducted a test to streamline international transaction agreements using R3's Corda DLT platform.

Today's announcement is also part of a wider push by SBI Holdings into blockchain technology.

As detailed by CoinDesk, the Japanese banking group has previously registered with the country's financial watchdog to launch a cryptocurrency exchange platform, which is currently pending public release.

The bank also partnered with the San Fransisco-based blockchain startup Ripple to facilitate the experiment of cross-border blockchain payments among financial institutions.

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