Blockchain developer Soramitsu is involved in a new project to enable payments between Cambodia, other Southeast Asian countries and Japan. It was the developer behind Cambodia’s Project Bakong which created a quasi central bank digital currency (CBDC). The new Mutsumi project, which translates as friendly relations, will use Bakong and stablecoins to support Japanese SMEs in selling goods and digital services to Southeast Asian customers through e-commerce.
Digital transformation company VIVIT will run the joint venture project with Tama University also involved. It will effectively create a “Bakong Economic Zone” using the technology used in Cambodia to enable Japanese SMEs to reach the large offshore market, aiming to launch in late 2024.
Cambodia’s Bakong already has cross border payments using QR codes with Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Additional jurisdictions being worked on include India, China and Laos. Bakong is effectively at the center of a hub. So rather than trying to link all these countries one to one to Japan, the idea is to link Japan to Cambodia’s Bakong using a Japanese stablecoin via an FX coin exchange. Hence Bakong becomes the intermediate hub for these payments to Japan.
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