Softbank $100bn Fund Completes Mobile Payments Blockchain Test

ICOBox co-founder Daria Generalova on the Japanese conglomerate’s bet on the blockchain

Japanese telco Softbank has completed a blockchain proof-of-concept allowing person-to-person mobile payments across different network carriers.

SoftBank leader Masayoshi Son has put together the world’s largest investment fund that is taking stakes in the world’s most exciting nascent technologies. The Vision Fund’s primary backer is Saudi Arabian leader Muhammad bin Salman who contributed $45bn as part of an attempt to diversify the Kingdom’s economy. The Fund far exceeds the $64bn that all venture capital funds raised globally in 2016 and is four times the size of the biggest private-equity fund ever raised.
Softbank this week confirmed its blockchain proof-of-concept allowing person-to-person mobile payments across different network carriers is intended to replace traditional SMS texts with functionality such as sending multimedia content, documents and voice calls via carrier networks instead of through mobile apps.

That the world’s largest tech investor is using blockchain technology to tackle the very core issue affecting telecoms’ companies profitability worldwide shows that distributed ledgers have come of age even in the eyes of leading global corporations. Telecoms services siloed by network and nation are prime targets for blockchain innovation.

This development comes a year after Softbank, TBCASoft and several global major carriers formed a Carrier Blockchain Study Group with the goal of developing a cross-carrier blockchain payments service. Others joining the consortium at the time included U.S.-based carrier Sprint and FarEasTone, one of the largest operators in Taiwan.