SBI Bits Jerry Chan Discusses the Lightning Network and Colored Coins

At the Satoshi’s Vision Conference in Japan Bitcoin.com’s Jake Smith interviewed Jerry Chan the Head of Digital Assets department for SBI Group’s fintech arm ‘SBI Bits.’ Chan explains what SBI Bits is involved in and how it had embraced blockchain technology and cryptocurrency solutions.

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SBI Bits Executive Jerry Chan Talks Bitcoin Cash

SBI Group is one of the first Japanese financial institutions to start getting involved with bitcoin and cryptocurrency applications. The company’s Head of Digital Assets dept., Jerry Chan helps lead the firm’s fintech subsidiary that builds technological platforms and business tools for large-scale institutions. SBI Bits is excited about the development surrounding the bitcoin cash ecosystem, and Chan explains a few reasons why to our host Jake Smith.

“SBI Bits is like a fintech internal vendor we do all of our technology internally within SBI Group. So our bread and butter business is exchange platforms, core location or anywhere where the profit center companies require technology. SBI is a larger financial group and has online stock trading and liquidity markets,” explains Chan.

SBI Group is the first financial services conglomerate in Japan that has gotten really big into bitcoin, blockchain, and associated technologies. As you may have heard GMO, DMM, which are more media technology rooted companies, are also getting into [them] in their own way.

An SBI Bits Backed Cryptocurrency Exchange Coming Soon

SBI Bit’s leader details that the company is also in the midst of constructing a cryptocurrency exchange. The exchange will be built by SBI but will likely be licensed to other SBI Group companies once completed.

“That is one of the projects [an SBI Bits backed cryptocurrency exchange] we are working on — SBI Bits is a technology platform developer. The companies that will actually operate the exchange once we build it may not be SBI Bits itself,” Chan details during his interview.

Lightning Network Not So Exciting

Chan also discusses protocols like the Lightning Network (LN) and Segregated Witness and lets viewers know whether or not these technologies excite him. While Chan finds LN interesting he doesn’t know who the technology will serve in the long run and doesn’t seem to find the protocol very exciting.

“Lightning is an interesting second layer technology but I wouldn’t say it is very exciting — Because From a business perspective I don’t see that it is addressing any use case that we can use or institutions can use — More than just say payment channels or some other form of a private blockchain pegged token,” Chan reveals.

So I really think Lightning is an interesting experiment and technology but I don’t know what the platform is trying to serve.

Following the discussion about the Lightning Network, Chan gives his opinion about color coin technology and says SBI Bits is very interested in a protocol that can create representative assets and smart contract solutions. Chan explains to Smith that if the technology was available now on the BCH chain, SBI Bits would already be developing things with the technology. If you want to hear the rest of the intriguing exchange between our film host Jake Smith and SBI Bits Jerry Chan then check out the video below.

What do you think about the company SBI Bits and Jerry Chan’s commentary? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments below.

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