Metaplanet, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under the ticker 3350, announced on July 1 that it has made an additional bitcoin purchase. Following the company’s disclosure on June 24 about plans to acquire BTC worth 1 billion yen (.2 million), Metaplanet has initiated the purchase with an investment of 200 million yen. This transaction […]
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TOKYO BEAST – A Crypto Entertainment Game By Renowned Web3 Companies Announces Launch On Korea Blockchain Week
PRESS RELEASE. Tokyo, Japan, September 4th, 2023, Chainwire. TOKYO BEAST FZCO, headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; General Manager: Tomoe Mizutani; (hereinafter “TOKYO BEAST FZCO”) has announced the crypto entertainment project “TOKYO BEAST, gumi Inc.
Headquartered in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; Hiroyuki Kawamoto, CEO; (hereinafter “gumi”) as the developer, Turingum K.K., headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Hiroki Tahara, CEO; (hereinafter “Turingum”) as the technology and financial advisory, using the Polygon protocols as the blockchain network for implementation, to release several modular projects worldwide in 2024.
The announcement was made today, September 4th 2023, at the Korea Blockchain Week conference held in Seoul, Korea.
What is “TOKYO BEAST” all about?
“TOKYO BEAST” is a crypto entertainment project that challenges to create a new entertainment experience by integrating crypto assets.
It is a completely original large-scale project with many experienced staff members who have developed and operated famous Japanese games, and a development budget unparalleled for a web3 game.
The company will provide an innovative and exciting entertainment experience that only “TOKYO BEAST” can provide, evolving Web3 games to a new stage.
・Promotion movie:https://youtu.be/0-QvJeYJ6ds
Features of TOKYO BEAST
Pursuing pure fun
The team believes that it is important to be able to enjoy the game itself, outside of its web 3 features, so the emphasis was to create an authentic worldview, attractive characters, an enthusiastic battle system, and more.
The quality of the game is comparable to that of today’s leading smartphone games. The gaming experience is easy and seamless as the team eliminated barriers to starting the game, such as the initial NFT purchase and wallet connection, and aims to enable a wide range of participation, including general smartphone game users, and not just those confined to the Web3 world.
A series of characters that are attractive both as game characters and as NFT collections
The characters are designed to be interactive with an active role in the game and at the same time, to be recognized outside of the game as an NFT collection with a sophisticated visual style and high rarity. The project founders aim to create something that will be loved widely beyond borders and languages, just like “TOKYO BEAST”.
A fusion experience of the worldview and the crypto ecosystem
“TOKYO BEAST” emphasizes the importance of synchronizing the experience of immersing oneself in the worldview of the game with the real-world crypto ecosystem. “TOKYO BEAST” will provide an experience that unites each modular project and stakeholder in a single worldview, something that has not been done in existing web3 games.
Creating a new entertainment experience by predicting the winner of battles
Under a legitimate scheme, there will be a win/loss prediction function that can be enjoyed inside and outside the game. Users will be able to enjoy predicting the winner of battles using data. Battles will be streamed live simultaneously around the world, and users will be able to enjoy the excitement and frenzy of the experience by watching the battles with other users around the world.
The world of “TOKYO BEAST” continues to expand
All the module projects to be released in the future will be organically intertwined to deliver an unexplored entertainment experience through the synergy of crypto x content. Moreover, the team aims to continue expanding the world of “TOKYO BEAST” and the utility of $TBZ(*1).
As a first step, the following core module projects will be released sequentially worldwide in 2024. * “BASE”, a function to experience the unique economy of the “TOKYO BEAST” token “$TBZ * “FARM”, a function that allows users to experience NFT owner by cultivating “BEAST,” which will serve as data for NFT(*2).
TRIALS”, a function that allows users to experience being a hero who fights with dreams and romance on his/her shoulders.
During the second phase, a module project to provide new entertainment from various aspects to further expand the world of “TOKYO BEAST” and the utility of $TBZ will be mapped out and executed.
Campaign and Event
Early Entry Campaign
Date: September 4, 2023 – October 31, 2023
To celebrate the release of the information, three “Early Entry Campaigns” will be held, in which users can win a “Mystery Box” containing “TOKYO BEAST” tokens and NFTs by following the official X (former Twitter, hereafter “official X”) account, etc.
① Follow Me Campaign
The highest rarity “Mystery Box” will be given away by drawing among those who follow the official X account. The earlier users follow us, the higher your chance of winning.
② Weekly Prediction
If users follow the official X account and participate in the weekly prediction quiz of “TOKYO BEAST” on the official X account, they can receive a high rarity “Mystery Box” by lottery.
③ Strike Jackpot
A jackpot-style campaign will be held during the “Early Entry Campaign”.
Each time a target number of live streaming viewers or Official X followers is reached, a prize will be added to the jackpot, and a drawing will be held on Official X to determine who will win the jackpot. If the jackpot is not opened, the rewards in the pot will be carried over to the next drawing. If the jackpot is opened, the winner will be drawn from the followers of the Official X account and will receive the rewards including those that have been carried over.
*For details on each of the “Early Entry Campaign” campaigns, please refer to the following link: https://medium.com/@TOKYOBEAST/2c7956cb7558
・Polygon × TOKYO BEAST Livestreaming
Polygon and TOKYO BEAST will hold a live streaming event.
Title: Polygon × TOKYO BEAST Livestreaming
Schedule: 2023/9/8 20:00(EST)/ 17:00~ (PST)
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rikxEfWuKIM
Speakers:Yoriko Beal (Polygon Head of Business Development Japan)
Naoki Motohashi (TOKYO BEAST Producer)
Shuhei Mise (TOKYO BEAST Global Head)
(*1) $TBZ is TOKYO BEAST’s proprietary IP token.
(*2) NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token. Blockchain technology is used as digital data with a certificate of ownership, making it impossible to tamper with or forge.
===========
Service Name:TOKYO BEAST
Company name: TOKYO BEAST FZCO
Location: 001 – 33228 IFZA Business Park, DDP, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Representative: Tomoe Mizutani
Official site: http://tokyo-beast.com/
Official X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/TOKYOBEAST_EN
Playable: App Store、Google Play、PC
For inquiries about the press release, please contact TOKYO BEAST FZCO Public Relations:press@tokyobeast.ae
This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release.
Japan Blockchain Association Urges Tokyo to Overhaul Crypto Tax System
An industry organization in Japan has suggested that the government should reform taxation rules for crypto assets and transactions. Its members are convinced that the current tax regulations hinder growth of the Web3 economy in the country and discourage taxpayers from holding and using cryptocurrencies.
Japan Government Asked to Amend Tax Laws for Crypto Gains and Transactions
The Japan Blockchain Association (JBA) has submitted a request to the government in Tokyo to revise the taxation regime for virtual currencies. The organization led by co-founder and CEO of Japanese crypto exchange Bitflyer, Yuzo Kano, insists that the proposed changes would allow more domestic companies to enter the Web3 sector.
The JBA is calling for a review of the taxation system for crypto assets, which it says is hindering the growth of the Web3 business in Japan, as well as for the development of an environment in which citizens can own and use digital assets, the Japanese crypto news outlet Coinpost reported Saturday.
Last month, Japan’s National Tax Agency (NTA) amended some corporate tax rules to relieve firms from the taxation of year-end unrealized gains from cryptocurrencies they have issued. The association now wants unrealized profits from tokens issued by third parties to be exempt, too, saying this burden is one of the barriers preventing entry into the Web3 market.
“If the end-of-term unrealized gain tax is abolished, companies will no longer need to sell the tokens they hold for tax purposes … Under the current tax system, selling tokens to pay taxes could cause the price of the tokens to fall, which could hinder the growth of the token-based economy,” the JBA explained.
The organization also urges for changing the taxation method for individual crypto asset transactions to separate self-assessment taxation with a flat tax rate of 20%. In addition to that, the association suggests that losses should be carried forward and deducted in the three years following the year in which they occurred, reducing the tax.
JBA quoted data from the Japan Crypto Asset Trading Association which shows that the number of people opening crypto asset trading accounts in Japan continues to grow. As of April 2023, they were approximately 6.8 million. It also noted that almost 44% of the respondents in its own survey said they would more than double their investments if they changed to separate self-assessment taxation.
The industry body also wants the Japanese government to eliminate income taxation for profits made when crypto assets are exchanged. The JBA believes these amendments would increase the number of crypto users in the country as well as the amounts invested in crypto assets, and ultimately lead to higher tax revenues for Japan.
Do you think the Japanese government will accept the JBA’s proposals for crypto tax reform? Tell us in the comments section below.
Neo APAC Hackathon Kicks Off at Tokyo GAS Station: Uncovering Local Web3 Talents and Empowering Regional Development
PRESS RELEASE. Neo, the open-source, community-driven blockchain platform where developers are building the future Smart Economy, today announces the launch of its new APAC Hackathon in partnership with OKX. The event includes a total prize pool of 0,000 for event winners and a post-hackathon grant fund of million, provided by Neo Foundation and dedicated to fostering Web3 growth in line with recent positive regulatory developments in the APAC region.
The Hackathon will take place from July to October and features in-person events across five cities in Asia — Tokyo (Japan), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Bangalore (India), Seoul (South Korea), and Singapore, each with a two-day hacking weekend to allow elite Web3 developers to showcase skills and forge valuable connections. There will also be a series of virtual sessions featuring workshops and mentoring from the Neo team, alongside panel discussions and ongoing support, for those who may not be able to attend the in-person events, ensuring that all those interested can get involved.
On July 22nd and 23rd, Neo is going to kick-start the Neo APAC Hackathon offline event series in Tokyo, hosting Tokyo GAS Station. Participants of the Tokyo GAS Station on-site will get the chance to win the following prizes and opportunities.
- Excellence Prizes: ,000 X 2 teams.
- Travel grants to the Hong Kong Finale in October: ,000 X 2 teams.
- Chance to share the million post-hackathon grant fund.
- Media coverage, industry connection and investment opportunities.
For those who are unable to attend the Tokyo GAS Station offline event, they can still participate by registering and submitting their projects online for the Neo APAC Hackathon on its website.
Building on the astounding successes of previous hackathons, Neo will announce the overall winning team at a prestigious celebration in Hong Kong this October. All 20 finalist and shortlisted teams, from the in-person events and projects submitted online, will showcase their projects and deliver engaging demos at the celebration.
Neo will provide all 20 teams with grants towards their travel funds to attend the finale in Hong Kong. To register for the Hackathon, please see Neo’s dedicated website: https://hackathon.neo.org/.
Categories
Participants at this year’s Hackathon can develop across five categories: DeFi and Payment; NFT and Gaming; AI, Social and DAO; Infrastructure and Tooling; and General. Each category has a final prize of ,000, which will be announced at the finale in Hong Kong and will be awarded in NEO tokens.
Neo, the most developer-friendly blockchain platform, will enable participants to choose from among the most popular developing languages to build on. Reflecting its status as a driver of innovation and cooperation across the blockchain industry, Neo is for the first time this year opening its doors to EVM-based (Ethereum Virtual Machine) projects in parallel with Neo N3 projects.
Neo’s Collaboration with OKX
Neo’s partnership with OKX recognizes the combined synergy and impact that will be made possible by joining forces. As part of the partnership, OKX will be designing a series of unique NFTs for participants in the Hackathon, in addition to promoting opportunities for participants to collaborate and innovate further with OKX.
Launching the Hackathon, Da Hongfei, Founder with Neo said: “The whole team here at Neo is absolutely delighted to launch this year’s Hackathon for the APAC region, building on the resounding successes of our previous events and under the favorable regulatory environment of the APAC region. Through our Hackathon, we aim to attract and support the finest in blockchain and Web3 talent, alongside exciting startups working in the blockchain industry, and truly introduce people to the capabilities that developing on Neo provides. I encourage all developers interested in blockchain and Web3 to get involved in our Hackathon. We look forward to seeing an exceptional set of projects, celebrating the winner at our prestigious event in Hong Kong, and showcasing the finest talent in the APAC region.”
Jason Lau, Chief Innovation Officer at OKX, stated, “We have always been committed to the development of web 3 industry infrastructure. This collaboration with Neo for the APAC Hackathon is another great example. We eagerly support the growth of the web3 developer community in APAC and look forward to what these builders will accomplish.”
For more details about the Hackathon, please see Neo’s dedicated Hackathon website here. Neo’s Hackathon Handbook is available to view here.
About Neo
Founded in 2014, Neo is an open-source, community-driven blockchain platform designed to welcome developers into the Smart Economy. By enabling developers to digitize and automate the management of assets through smart contracts, Neo is built to realize the optimized digital world of the future. As the most developer-friendly blockchain, Neo meets developers where they are by integrating seamlessly with the world’s most widely used languages and tools, and providing the most feature-complete blockchain platform for building full-stack decentralized applications. With native support for powerful infrastructure including decentralized storage, oracles, and domain name service, Neo is the ideal foundation for developers to build the next generation Internet.
About OKX
OKX is the second-largest global crypto exchange by trading volume and a leading Web3 ecosystem. Trusted by more than 50 million global users, OKX is known for being the fastest and most reliable crypto trading app for traders everywhere.
As a top partner of English Premier League champions Manchester City FC, McLaren Formula 1, golfer Ian Poulter, Olympian Scotty James, and F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo, OKX aims to supercharge the fan experience with new engagement opportunities. OKX is also the top partner of the Tribeca Festival as part of an initiative to bring more creators into web3.
Beyond OKX’s exchange, the OKX Wallet is the platform’s latest offering for people looking to explore the world of NFTs and the metaverse while trading GameFi and DeFi tokens.
OKX is committed to transparency and security and publishes its Proof of Reserves on a monthly basis.
This announcement is made in collaboration with Bitcoin.com’s ecosystem token VERSE. Verse supports DeFi innovation across the Web3 ecosystem. Learn more about Verse here. If you would like to partner, please contact us here.
This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release.
Reverse Engineering the Future: Bitcoin.com Team Members Weigh In on ETHGlobal Tokyo Hackathon
The ETHGlobal Tokyo hackathon drew to a close on Sunday, as builders from around the world competed for 5,000 in prizes. The event was kicked off with the first-ever ETHGlobal “Pragma” summit, sponsored by Verse, among others. Engineers and representatives from Bitcoin.com also took part in the summit and hackathon, and shared their thoughts on the event and its significance for crypto and economic freedom right now, and in the near future.
A Pragmatic Start: From Summit to Hackathon
The first-ever “Pragma” summit took place on April 13 in Tokyo, Japan, as the kick-off to the wider ETHGlobal Tokyo hackathon, sponsored in part by Verse. Speakers such as Aya Miyaguchi from the Ethereum Foundation and author Balaji Srinivasan spoke at the event. The hackathon ended Sunday and saw participation from Bitcoin.com’s engineers and representatives.
Director of engineering at Bitcoin.com, Andrei Terentiev, who oversees the company’s 30+ strong engineering team, noted he was “super excited for the ETH global hackathon, especially since Japan has been closed down to outside visitors for the past three years or so, it’s a great chance to meet more of the global cryptocurrency community and share new ideas that will push forward the cryptocurrency ecosystem as a whole.” Terentiev continued:
Overall I think most participants in the event are all striving towards the same mission of cryptocurrency which is to create more economic freedom for the world. So being able to meet up in person helps spread those ideas and flourish across the world.
Data engineer at Bitcoin.com, Bolun Zhang, said of the event: “Being a tech guy, I’m always interested in keeping up with the latest trends in the industry and exploring cool projects being undertaken by my peers.”
5,000 in prizes were available from myriad industry players and platforms like 1inch Network, Gnosis Chain, Metamask, and more.
Web3, Reverse Lotteries, and Prediction Markets
“At the event, we’ll be building what we’re calling a decentralized lottery,” growth marketing specialist at Bitcoin.com Alun Stern told Bitcoin.com News just prior to the hackathon. The first part of the application is “kind of like a reverse lottery … in a traditional lottery, one person wins, and everyone else loses. In this system, everyone will win, and one person will lose. The loser’s funds will get distributed across the winning participants.”
Stern explained that the team would be designing the lottery in such a way that the loser would get a rare NFT. The second part of the app works similarly to prediction markets, he said, noting:
Somebody will be able to propose an event, they will assign an arbiter, and they will assign multiple choice options … The interesting thing about this is not only are these prediction markets used for people to bet on future outcomes — they can also be used to influence the future and basically change the future.
Stern explained that someone willing to pay enough money could bet that an influencer on social media would not promote a project, incentivizing said influencer to do just that.
Ahead of the event, a software engineer on the web team at Bitcoin.com, Julie, emphasized that the hackathon would provide many benefits, including getting people more familiar with the burgeoning world of Web3. She commented:
[The hackathon] will give us an opportunity to share ideas and work with different people on interesting new products that can help users to onboard into the crypto world, as well as help developers hone their skills and dive into Web3 if they didn’t have any experience with it before. It will be great to see what everyone comes up with!
The Bitcoin.com team wrapped up the event with an implementation prize from Scroll, a “zkEVM-based zkRollup on Ethereum that enables native compatibility for existing Ethereum applications and tools.”
What are your thoughts on the ETHGlobal Tokyo hackathon? Have you ever participated in a hackathon before? Be sure to let us know in the comments section below.
ETHGlobal Hackathon Kicks Off in Tokyo With First Ever Pragma Summit
As previously announced by ETHGlobal, the first-ever Pragma summit kicked off the wider ETHGlobal Tokyo hackathon on Thursday as a “hub for high-quality talks and as a forum of discussion for builders and leaders from the Ethereum ecosystem and beyond.” The event, emceed by Kartik Talwar of ETHGlobal, featured on-stage interviews with Aya Miyaguchi of the Ethereum Foundation, Juan Benet of Protocol Labs, The Network State author and bitcoin proponent Balaji Srinivasan, and Stani Kulechov of Aave Companies. Product announcements were also made by several featured speakers.
First-Ever ‘Pragma’ Summit Lands in Tokyo
On April 13, Ethereum proponents from around the globe converged on Tokyo’s Shibuya ward, at the Digital Garage, to engage in on-stage interviews, product announcements, and networking. The application-only Pragma event is said to be the first ever in-person version of such summits for ETHGlobal, and kicked off the wider ETHGlobal Tokyo hackathon which lasts until Sunday, April 16.
Kartik Talwar, co-founder of ETHGlobal, began the series of interviews by inviting Aya Miyaguchi, the executive director at the Ethereum Foundation, to the stage.
Miyaguchi commented on the general culture in Japan, saying people are very humble and “there are a lot of talented developers, but it’s not embraced enough. Like, acknowledged enough. It’s like, okay, at a company … management makes the decisions and they tell developers what to build.” She emphasized:
But the Ethereum way is that you need to include these developers in the idea generation, brainstorming stage.
Miyaguchi went on to note: “One thing Japan is very good at … They are good at team work.” The executive director says this is a real strength and that Japanese are diligent to learn new things like programming languages, but events like the hackathon and the Ethereum community can “teach or inspire” a new way of openness outside of the traditional cultural constraints.
Juan Benet of Protocol Labs spoke on the creation of IPFS, preserving archives on blockchains, and future possibilities for various blockchain transformations, stating:
My prediction is that most of these chains are going to recombine in super interesting ways … some L1s [layer one] will turn into L2s, some L2s will turn into L1s, and it won’t matter that much in the long term.
He noted that blockchains should be able to scale much more than what people think is possible, noting “scaling laws work” and citing similar structures that already exist.
“Today, we’re reaching for tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of transactions per second on each chain,” Benet noted. “We need to be reaching for billions or trillions of transactions per second. That’s the real benchmark. The moment where you can have something like all of Twitter built onchain … that’s the kind of scalability that we need.”
Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO at Aave, discussed among other topics ways to make products more customizable by users:
If you think about most of the products in the world, you really can’t go and make a pull request. You can’t go and make a pull request to your iPhone or your Android phone and expect something good to happen if your idea’s good and you fix the problem. But what if in the future you can actually build this way? Protocols, products, and algorithms. And it’s possible when you build things in a more open way.
Rounding out the day’s talks was tech entrepreneur, author, and angel investor Balaji Srinivasan, who though unable to join in-person, delivered a politically and philosophically-charged remote presentation on the fall of Western fiat currencies. He also gave an extended Q&A session.
Srinivasan told attendees that Eastern fiat currencies like the Chinese renminbi and Indian rupee may outlast Western currencies like the U.S. dollar.
He also explained why he made his now famous million-dollar bitcoin bets, citing the current global financial chaos, clarifying:
I’ll have an update on the bet also soon … I think it’ll be satisfying of course for everybody. The reason I did that was to draw attention to this crisis.
Product Announcements
Between interviews, attendees of Pragma heard talks and watched presentations on several product announcements. Presentations included Masa ‘Senshi’ Kikuchi of Secured Finance, Lukas Schor of Safe, Harsh Rajat of Push Protocol, and Jason Goldberg of Airstack.
The wider ETHGlobal Tokyo Hackathon will be ongoing through Sunday, April 16. Follow Bitcoin.com News to receive updates on the event, including thoughts from participating builders and engineers testing new ideas and competing for 5,000 in prizes.
What are your thoughts on the first Ethereum Pragma conference? Let us know in the comments section below.
Edogawa Ward in Tokyo to Use Metaverse Tech to Solve ‘Hikikomori’ Problem
Edogawa Ward in Tokyo plans to use metaverse tech to help social recluses, also known as “hikikomori,” begin to integrate with society again. The ward will organize a series of hybrid (virtual and in-person) meetings this year with the objective of reuniting people with social reclusion problems and helping them in their reintegration process.
Edogawa Ward to Leverage the Metaverse in Hikikomori Reintegration Processes
Edogawa Ward, located in Tokyo, announced that it will offer a series of metaverse meetings as part of the reintegration process for social recluses in the area. The meetings will be held in hybrid form, with social recluses having the opportunity of attending in person or online, allowing a safe haven for meeting and talking about their common problems.
There will be six of these events in 2023, organized by the Kazoku Hikikomori Japan nonprofit, with a capacity for up to 80 participants, 50 in the metaverse platform, and 30 in the designated venue. The meetings will be held in a metaverse space designed by Kazoku Hikikomori, with remote users being able to shield their identities using avatars if desired.
About this initiative, a ward officer explained:
We want to offer a place where they would think ‘I want to be there with the others.’
The Hikikomori Issue
The social exclusion (or hikikomori) problem in Japan is a condition that affects some individuals, who seclude themselves from society and decline to have any interaction with others. This condition is estimated to affect more than 1 million Japanese, with experts considering the number to be higher, closer to the 2 million mark.
This condition can cause problems in the families of these individuals, who must provide for them, causing economic strain. The inclusion of metaverse-based techniques in dealing with this phenomenon could ostensibly help some of these individuals to at least interact virtually with their peers.
According to a 2021 survey, 9,096 residents were hikikomori in Edogawa. On the reach of this action and its significance, Edogawa Ward Mayor Takeshi Saito stated:
We don’t think everything will be solved just because we offer a metaverse. It’ll probably be helpful for some people. We’re targeting those who can’t leave their rooms and haven’t been interacting with other people. We want to help them take a step forward.
Another initiative of this kind, targeting school absenteeism in Toda City, was announced in October, also using metaverse tech to allow students to roam virtual campuses while preparing to attend regular classes eventually.
What do you think about the use of metaverse tech to aid in solving the social reclusion problem? Tell us in the comments section below.
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Ripple Announces University Blockchain Research Initiative Parternships with Kyoto and Tokyo Universities
Blockchain firm and creator of the XRP digital currency, Ripple, has announced that its University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) has partnered with two Japanese higher education institutions. With the inclusion of Kyoto University and the University of Tokyo, the initiative is now 33 strong.
The aim of UBRI is to further academic research into blockchain technology. Ripple is hoping to equip the developers and computer scientists of tomorrow with the necessary knowledge to support its vision of a future digital economy.
Ripple Spreading Blockchain Education in Japan with UBRI
According to a press release by Ripple, the firm’s University Blockchain Research Initiative has just expanded into Japan. The enterprise’s latest partnerships, Kyoto University and the University of Tokyo, are the first higher education institutions from the nation to join the group.
The release details that the latest UBRI partners have already been collaborating with Ripple across all levels of study. The Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability at Kyoto University has held workshops as well as fund-raised for research projects exploring blockchain’s application in addressing various global issues. These relate to diverse fields of study such as engineering, business, and public policy.
Specific topics studied include how blockchain could overhaul current remittance services, digital identity management systems for refugees, and supply chain management.
![ripple blockchain university](https://www.newsbtc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Blockchain-University.jpg)
Ripple believes blockchain will be a vital technology in the future and is investing heavily in education.
Meanwhile, the University of Tokyo’s Department of Economics will host public seminars focusing on blockchain and settlement, along with various professor-organised research projects. These will focus on the evolving financial system and regulatory approaches to it. The institution will also be awarding scholarships to students partaking in blockchain research.
Eric van Miltenburg, SVP of Global Operations at Ripple, commented on the partnerships with the Japanese high education centres:
“University partners will continue to increase positive awareness of the transformative impact that blockchain technology will have across various industries. As the industry matures, the academic community plays a pivotal role in paving the road for innovative companies and entrepreneurs leveraging blockchain technologies and digital assets.”
The UBRI has so far partnered with numerous top universities from around the world. Its membership currently boasts a total of 33 institutions from 14 nations. The press release states that each of the universities partnering with Ripple’s blockchain education initiative are free to determine their own research topics and key focus areas. It states that Ripple provides financial services to help promote blockchain education at the institutions, as well as direct collaboration with expertise and technical resources when they are needed.
The Senior Director of Global Operations at Ripple, Emi Yoshikawa, also provided comment on the UBRI and its decision to expand into Japan:
“Japan is quickly becoming a leading force in crypto assets and blockchain. The region has always been forward thinking and exploring ways to improve the current financial system.”
Related Reading: Ripple Execs Begs US Congress for Lenient Crypto Regulations
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