Digital Garage Forms a Strategic Business Alliance with Blockstream, Entering the Second Phase of Developing Blockchain Technology for Bitcoin

Digital Garage, Inc. (TSE first section: 4819; HQ: Tokyo. Representative Director, President Executive Officer and Group CEO: Kaoru Hayashi; DG) signed a formal agreement to form a partnership in Japan with Blockstream Corporation (HQ: Canada; CEO: Adam Back), a developer of Blockchain technology. The two companies have had a basic agreement to jointly develop next generation platform technology since February 2017. The new formal partnership takes a step further from the basic agreement to strengthen their strategic technical relationship, and the companies plan to make the Japanese market lead the world with Blockchain technology. In addition, DG will help Blockstream to enter the Japanese market by supporting the expansion of its business.

DG will take this opportunity to accelerate the development of Blockchain-related technologies at DG Lab. Specifically, DG’s application and business logic layer built upon Blockstream’s Elements Blockchain Platform allows for rapid development of use cases and services for the Japanese market. The first product of this effort was DG Lab DVEP™ (Digital Value Exchange Platform) released in October 2017, an advanced framework for real-world payment systems built upon blockchains. DG also partners with The Tokyo Tanshi Co., Ltd. (HQ: Tokyo; President: Yuichiro Yanagida; Tokyo Tanshi) in the field of FinTech. Tokyo Tanshi provides brokerage services in interbank and money markets as well as foreign currency, bond, and derivatives markets. DG and Tokyo Tanshi plan to start issuing and circulating local digital currencies and to enter into the cryptocurrency OTC market (as indicated in another press release today). DG will help Blockstream enter the Japanese market and plans to use DG Lab DVEP™ not only in FinTech but also to develop new business opportunities in Japan using Blockchain technology in a variety of areas such as assisting local governments with their regional revitalization, applying big data in automotives and driverless cars, and the healthcare market.

“The DG Lab team, through its Open Source contributions and sharing of technical knowledge in the BC-2.jp seminars, have demonstrated world-class in expertise in blockchain technology making them the perfect partner. We believe with this strategic partnership we will together accelerate solutions built with blockchain technology for the Japanese market.” (Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream)

“In Japan, there is a rapidly growing interest in Bitcoin and blockchain technology. In the future, it will be vital for us to develop financial applications using blockchains and technological platforms that lead innovations in the industry. We believe that Blockstream’s blockchain platform, Elements, with its excellent security and reliability, is the exact technology we need. With our strong partnership with Blockstream, we are excited about accelerating the development of technologies to build a social infrastructure that will allow digital assets as well as Bitcoins to circulate safely and efficiently. DG will also help Blockstream to enter the Japanese market. We are looking forward to creating synergy in a variety of areas.” (Kaoru Hayashi, Representative Director, President Executive Officer and Group CEO of DG)

【DG Lab】https://www.dglab.com/en/
An open innovation R&D organization jointly established by DG, Kakaku.com, Inc. (TSE first section: 2371, HQ: Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo; President: Shonosuke Hata) and Credit Saison Co., Ltd. (TSE first section: 8253; HQ: Tokyo; President and CEO: Hiroshi Rinno).