The Bank of Japan is going to host its third Fintech Forum on 28 February 2017, which will focus on blockchain or distributed ledger technology.

Hosted by the BoJ’s Fintech Center, the invite-only event will feature fintech and blockchain experts as panelists including the likes of CEO and founder of bitFlyer Yuzo Kano; IBM Japan, Tokyo Research Laboratory blockchain technology in charge Senior Manager Sachiko Yoshima; and Nippon Exchange Group Corporate Planning Department New Business Promotion Office FinTech Lab manager Yamafuji Atsushi.

The event will focus on several aspects of blockchain technology, including DLT from the security perspective, its application in lending market, post-trade processes and more. It will include presentations from the central bank’s Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Mizuho Bank, Fujitsu as well as startups Soramitsu and R3.

According to the official announcement, R3 will give a presentation on its Corda blockchain platform.

The BoJ held the first meeting of the FinTech Forum on August 23, 2016, with the theme “FinTech and Information Security”. T he second meeting of the FinTech Forum was held on November 8, 2016, with the theme as "Open Innovation in the Financial Services".

Last month, European Central Bank executive board member Yves Mersch revealed that the ECB has engaged in international collaboration with the Bank of Japan to launch a joint research project which studies the possible use of DLT for market infrastructure. The project is expected to release its main findings this year.