“Building relation / connectivity 15 different financial institutions across 4 regions.”
The other day Jun, the CEO of OmiseGO tweeted this statement above and it caught my attention. Naturally, I had to dive deep to try and guess what 15 different financial institutions across 4 regions he may be talking about.
Please make sure you read that last sentence. This is a guess. For me, this research process allows me to get a better sense of the possibilities of this project.
With that said, let’s begin our discussion with the obvious - Thailand.
Thailand
As I mentioned in my previous article, in late December (2016), the cabinet approved the Finance Ministry’s national e-payment master plan to promote electronic payment across the board with a view to creating a cashless society. The system is called PromptPay and authorization in participation is by the Finance Ministry. Thai Alliance Payment System is one of two bank consortiums that was granted authorization by the Finance Ministry and includes the following five: Siam Commercial Bank, Krungthai Bank, Bank of Ayudhya, Thanachart Bank and TMB Bank.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Economy/Thailand-rolls-out-PromptPay-money-transfer-service
https://www.bangkokpost.com/tech/local-news/1242542/promptpay-nears-tipping-point.
Omise/OmiseGO has been supported by the Ministry of Finance, was awarded the Prime Minister’s Digital Award, met with the Central Bank of Thailand (alongside Vitalik Buterin), and has a new strategic investment from Thai Bank Krungsri. Omise’s API currently supports all 5 of those banks.
References for that paragraph in order:
https://www.omise.co/omise-awarded-digital-startup-of-the-year
~~~ embed:897472052457684993 twitter metadata:b21pc2VfZ298fGh0dHBzOi8vdHdpdHRlci5jb20vb21pc2VfZ28vc3RhdHVzLzg5NzQ3MjA1MjQ1NzY4NDk5M3w= ~~~
https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/27/omise-krungsri/
https://www.omise.co/supported-banks
Moving on to Singapore, where OmiseGO is registered…
Singapore
“Singapore and Thailand are in discussions about connecting their national digital payment systems to forge an unprecedented regional alliance, as officials step up efforts to curb the use of cash.” The Singapore banks involved in PayNow project include: Citibank Singapore Limited, DBS Bank/POSB, HSBC, Maybank, OCBC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, and United Overseas Bank.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-04/singapore-thailand-discuss-e-payment-alliance-for-digital-push
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2017-10-05/singapore-thailand-explore-e-payment-link-video
https://abs.org.sg/consumer-banking/pay-now
One company Razer, a huge gaming company, has put forward a proposal that is being considered:
“On this note, it would be important for the MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) in their consideration of the CEF (Common E-Payment Framework) to also engage their regional counterparts to explore a SEA network for e-payments.”
Easy read: https://www.razerzone.com/sg-en/epayments-proposal
Quote: https://assets2.razerzone.com/images/razer-epayments/razer-epayments-executive-summary-v2.pdf
“Razer also said it is incumbent on the private sector to establish and roll out an e-payment solution for Singapore that is in line with the CEF, in that it is not a closed proprietary system. “
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/razer-proposes-two-pronged-approach-to-transform-singapore-into-9194686
Onto Japan where Omise built their second home base...
Japan
“On October 10, 2017, Japanese communication giant Fujitsu, in conjunction with major banks Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Mizuho Financial Group Inc., and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, announced a joint field trial for testing a peer-to-peer transaction system, backed by blockchain technology.
The preliminary trial will be scheduled to run January through March 2018, after the trial system is built. Work on the system began in September and is expected to continue until December 2017. According to the announcement, 'Fujitsu will develop a cloud-based blockchain platform for money transfers between individuals that can be jointly used by these three major banks, as well as a smartphone application that allows users to easily handle the different steps for sending money and for making deposits and withdrawals.'"
Omise/OmiseGO recently set up a blockchain accelerator in Japan. The largest bank in Japan MUFG is the parent company of Bank of Ayudhya (the one OmiseGO has a strategic partnership with). SMBC is an early investor in OmiseGO and working with Mihuzo was mentioned in their crowdsale document.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bank_of_Tokyo-Mitsubishi_UFJ
https://omg.omise.co
https://cdn.omise.co/omg/crowdsaledoc.pdf
For those paying attention, that was only 3 regions.
The fourth region?
I have a couple guesses but this last one is more difficult to predict. What I do know though is with 1 million transactions per second to start, OmiseGO will be able to handle it.
Disclaimer: This is not investment advice and it is merely sharing information that is publicly available. Any speculation or decisions regarding your money are your own. I own OMG and really admire their company. I have no other formal relationship.
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