SBI Holdings (a partner of Ripple) CEO Yoshitaka Kitao said, during the Japan Blockchain Conference in Tokyo, that blockchain technology would fuel the next boom in the Japanese economy. The company is at the forefront of blockchain innovation as it plans to invest over $460 million in the industry through an AI & Blockchain fund, which was established earlier this year.

Kitao expects the next economic boom in Japan to be fueled by blockchain technology. He also said that it could happen within the next few years.

The Japanese economy has faced malaise for years now but, with technological improvements, it is expected to change. The country will likely improve mobile connectivity with 5G technology.

Advancements in the Internet of Things (IoT) and the rapid rise in artificial intelligence and computing power could help Japan in giving a boost to its lethargic economy.

Kitao said:

“We want to take blockchain beyond financial. There’s a lot of speculative demand around cryptocurrencies, which is why the price is going up so quickly, but people need to think about how these technologies are being used in real life and how they can improve people’s businesses.”

Apart from investing in a blockchain fund, the company has launched a crypto exchange called VCTrade. It is initially trading in XRP, which is the native cryptocurrency of its partner Ripple. The exchange currently works on zero transaction fee’s model and plans to introduce Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash later.

It has also invested in a renewable energy wind farm that will be used to provide energy for mining Bitcoin Cash. The exec believes that Bitcoin Cash is more viable than Bitcoin. He said that Bitcoin is too expensive because people are just holding it in hopes of a possible value increase later.

SBI holdings is an investor in Ripple since 2016, and they jointly own and operate SBI Ripple Asia, which is a project that explores the use of Ripple’s blockchain for cross-border payments.

Ripple [XRP] Partner CEO: Cryptocurrency Is Ammo for Economic Shift was originally found on [blokt] - Blockchain, Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

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