Digital payments company Ripple announced that it is joining with a Japan Bank Consortium to develop MoneyTap, a mobile app powered by Ripple's blockchain technology, to speed up payments in that country. The new app will allow customers of a bank consortium of 61 banks, to settle transactions instantly, round the clock.
Ripple said MoneyTap will facilitate on-demand payments to the vast majority of the country through this consortium, which covers more than 80 percent of all banking assets in Japan. The country is a huge market for blockchain and cryptocurrencies. At present, cash transfers in Japan are typically processed by banks on weekdays until around 3 p.m.
The consortium, led by SBI Ripple Asia, three banks, including SBI Net Sumishin Bank, Suruga Bank and Resona Bank, will go live first on the mobile app in the autumn of 2018. This will be followed by other banks in consortium.
According to Ripple, MoneyTap, which only requires a bank account, phone number, or QR code, is the first mobile app of its kind to be developed and used by multiple, different banks in the country.
The company also noted that the app would shed the costs associated with existing banking and ATM fees that are currently applied to domestic money transfers in Japan.
Takashi Okita, CEO of SBI Ripple Asia, said, "We are proud to leverage Ripple's blockchain technology through our new mobile app, MoneyTap, to improve the payments infrastructure in Japan."
Ripple is also reportedly working with banks in other countries as well for handling payments.
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May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.