Mizuho to Conduct Blockchain Payments Trial With Ripple

Mizuho Financial Group announced this week it will pilot Ripple's distributed ledger technology for use in cross-currency settlement.

will find the Japan-based financial services firm and R3 member, along with SBI Holdings, using Ripple's payment solutions to explore how cross-border payments could be conducted between the financial institutions. R3 will act as the consultant on the project.

Representatives from Ripple said the trial is expected to evolve to the point where real payment information, and eventually, real funds, are moved between the companies. The startup, which has raised $38.6m to date, said the test could become live before the year’s end.

The trial is the latest by Mizuho that will focus on settlement, following a trial announced in March in which it used the Open Assets protocol, a top-level protocol on the bitcoin blockchain, for cross-border securities settlement.

That test included participation from Fujitsu and Fujitsu Laboratories and comes amid a broader exploration of blockchain technologies by Asia-based financial institutions.

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