The Japan Bank Consortium, comprised of 61 banks, will release a smartphone application called “MoneyTap”— powered by Ripple’s blockchain technology — to allow customers of the bank consortium to settle transactions instantly, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Ripple said in a blog post.
Three members of the Japan bank consortium: SBI Net Sumishin Bank, Suruga Bank and Resona Bank will be the first to go live on the mobile app in autumn of 2018. This will be followed by a staggered roll out to the rest of consortium.
“We are proud to leverage Ripple’s blockchain technology through our new mobile app, MoneyTap, to improve the payments infrastructure in Japan,” said Takashi Okita, CEO of SBI Ripple Asia.
“MoneyTap” will the bank consortium customers to make instant domestic payments and only requires a bank account, phone number, or QR code.
“Together with the trust, reliability and reach of the bank consortium, we can remove friction from payments and create a faster, safer, and more efficient domestic payments experience for our customers,” Takashi Okita said.
While the software is focused on domestic transfers, the group will seek to expand it to cross-border payments and interbank settlements in the future, she added.