Digital Garage, a technology-based investment and development company based in Tokyo, has unveiled plans to build a new blockchain-based platform and several blockchain solutions for the Japanese market. The firm is collaborating with Canadian startup Blockstream, a company it had invested in last year, and will be using its Sidechain technology from the Elements Project.

More specifically, Digital Garage’s blockchain lab is planning several developments in mid- and long-term that include:

A “real-time exchange system” for credit card loyalty points, electronic money/prepaid values, and digital currency;

A “regional money system” that would provide benefits to consumers and quantitative marketing tools for regional producers to revitalize local economies; and

“Machine Automated Contracts” that would enable automation of computable contracts (smart contracts) and their executions for financial products.

Through joint research and development with Blockstream, Digital Garage plans to develop a platform that would allow for secure and low-cost circulation of digital assets. Additionally, the DG Lab engineers will actively participate in the open source development of Bitcoin and other Bitcoin-based blockchain technologies, the company said.

“By contributing engineering resources directly to upstream open source projects like Bitcoin and the Elements Project, DG Lab establishes its leadership in blockchain technology for the Japanese market,” said Kaoru Hayashi, CEO of Digital Garage.

“Beyond DG Lab’s purpose of building financial tech applications for the domestic market, our team demonstrates uncommon expertise with its contributions to the base layers that power the future of global finance. DG Lab is proud to build this future together with partners such as Blockstream.”

DB Lab was established in July 2016 with Kakaku.com, Inc. and Credit Saison Co., Ltd. An open innovation research and development organization, DB Lab focuses on five areas: blockchain, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and augmented reality, security and biotechnology.

The company said it will send its blockchain engineering team to San Francisco to conduct joint research and development of the Elements open source blockchain platform along with Blockstream engineers for several months.

“Digital Garage has undertaken significant work to analyze Bitcoin and next generation blockchain technology,” said Dr. Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream.

“I am impressed with both their technical and business understanding of what these new areas of technology mean for their business and for the Japanese market. With their new DG Lab, Digital Garage is well positioned in Japan to lead a wave of new innovation for payments and financial systems.”

Digital Garage indicated that the products that will be developed during that time will be deployed through sponsoring companies, business partners and others related to DG Lab and DG Lab Fund.

Digital Garage has been one of the most active firms in Japan in blockchain technology. Others that have been exploring the technology include the Japan Exchange Group, which leads a blockchain consortium of financial institutions, SBI Holdings, as well as Japanese banks Mizuho Financial Group, Inc., Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc.