Mizuho, one of Japan’s three so-called ‘megabanks’, will sponsor Neutrino, the country’s first blockchain coworking space established by Ethereum-based startup Omise Japan.

Named ‘Neutrino’, the country’s first specialized blockchain co-working space was established by Omise in Tokyo in March this year. Omise, a Thai-based startup, sees Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin among its advisors and closed a $25 million ICO in new financing last year to develop a decentralized payments platform Omise Go, powered by OMG, an ERC20 token cryptocurrency.

The collaborative space aims to advance research to ultimately deploy operational implementations of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency in businesses and services.

‘Started by OmiseGO, Neutrino is building a thriving community by connecting entrepreneurs, businesses, regulators, and cryptocurrency thought leaders together through series of regularly organized events, workshops and meetups,’ reads a description on Neutrino’s website.

In an announcement on Friday, Japanese banking giant Mizuho revealed it will sponsor the coworking space in an arrangement that will also see the bank become a “long-term tenant” of the coworking space.

Mizuho sees blockchain as a decentralized technology that will have a transformative impact across industries, stating it will “simplify and optimize” various kinds of business operations. In outlining its own intentions to implement the technology to deliver better financial services to its clients, Mizuho believes Neutrino and the interactions within the coworking space “will bring us one step closer to developing commercial applications for blockchain technology.”

The bank stated:

In addition to sponsoring Neutrino, Mizuho will be a long–term tenant of the coworking space, and we look forward to finding applications for blockchain technology and being able to develop new business areas together with the wide variety of sponsors, members, and other specialists Neutrino plans to attract.

Mizuho has previously experimented and developed a number of blockchain applications in record keeping, cross-border securities transactions, trade finance with tech partner IBM and document sharing.

Notably, the megabank is an investor in bitFlyer, Japan’s largest and best-funded cryptocurrency exchange and has previously tested its own digital currency in a three-month trial with IBM Japan.

Featured image from OmiseJapan.



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