National Bank of Cambodia, Soramitsu working on Blockchain project

Source: Soramitsu. The relationship between Soramitsu, Hyperledger Iroha and the Cambodian Central Bank is expected to lead to new payment infrastructure in Cambodia..

Soramitsu Company, a fintech startup, and the National Bank of Cambodia, the central bank and financial regulator in Cambodia, are working to co-develop an open source distributed ledger (Blockchain) project, Hyperledger Iroha. Through a codevelopment agreement, the National Bank of Cambodia will study the implications of distributed ledger technology, while contributing to the open source development of Hyperledger Iroha and developing new payment infrastructures that take advantage of Blockchain.

Blockchain technology allows the mathematical verification of transactions such as creating or transmitting digital assets and currencies. The actions taken on the network are recorded in a shared ledger that network members have access to, allowing many copies of the data to be distributed and protecting it against attacks.
Hyperledger Iroha is a software framework administered as part of the Linux Foundation's Hyperledger Project. Hyperledger Iroha specialises in creating highly responsive and performant* applications for end users such as mobile and web applications. Unix-style permissions to control actions on the ledger, as well as a highly optimised data model allow Hyperledger Iroha to securely and quickly process data. This makes the framework useful for digital payments, contract administration, identity management, and supply chain management, for example.

Using Hyperledger Iroha, currencies can be given logic through so-called "smart contracts" to create programmable money, where the conditions of transacting can be enforced by software. This can enable smart money as well as more efficient and secure payment and settlement systems.

Soramitsu aims to create a safe and convenient way to manage digital identities using Blockchain technology. Kazumasa Miyazawa, COO, Soramitsu said, "The application of information technology to finance is at a historical turning point. It is our goal to make Japanese Blockchain technology the global standard and to use our technology to change the world for the better. When I created Edy, we were limited by the technology of the time and a lack of regulatory clarity. Through our work with the National Bank of Cambodia, we will be able to take the first step toward creating a more efficient payment infrastructure, which we hope to expand globally in the future."

*Edior's note: 'performant' applications are applications that work well. The definition of what works well depends on the person making the claim, however. It is like saying food is 'delicious' but what is good food to one person may be terrible food to another.