PRESS RELEASE

SORAMITSU Co., Ltd.
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, February 5, 2024

Celebrating 8 Years of SORAMITSU

→ SORAMITSU Celebrates 8 Years of Creating a Better World Through Decentralised Technologies.

Soramitsu was founded in early 2016, making us eight years old today. Over these years, we have amassed vast knowledge and experience, creating unique blockchain-based technology for enterprise/institutional permissioned use cases and the permissionless decentralised crypto space.

As we celebrate the eighth anniversary of our founding, we share a message from our group CEO and Co-Founder, Dr Makoto Takemiya:

"For the last eight years, we have not compromised our principles and always worked to build systems that best benefit humanity. I think what we have accomplished so far is quite remarkable, but we are just getting started. The next 8 years will indeed be challenging for humanity, but if we do not stray from our course and always put humanity first in all we do, we can create a positive outcome for the world."

Dr Makoto Takemiya

Group CEO of Soramitsu

Our COO, Andrew Wong, mentions:

Andrew Wong

COO of Soramitsu

"We have an incredible opportunity to elevate and deliver meaningful benefits for people worldwide. I am deeply grateful to both our employees, partners and communities around the world for their commitment to our mission and culture as we deliver results. The best is yet to come."

Tarmo Vannas, our CDO, adds:

"We design innovative products in which we strongly believe and that we proudly use ourselves. By working together with our partners and community, we have overcome many obstacles and achieved more than we ever could alone. This shows well how collaboration pushes humanity forward into the future. We believe we are creating a better future."

Tarmo Vannas

CDO of Soramitsu

After the inspirational messages from Soramitsu leadership, we would like to share our story, best told through the work we have done.

Our Work So Far

We are the creators of the Hyperledger Iroha blockchain platform and one of the original five teams commissioned by the Web3 Foundation to build Polkadot. We have also worked extensively with Ethereum, developing unique interoperability use cases.

On the other hand, we regularly participate in high-level consultations and proof-of-concept projects with institutional enterprises, government organisations, and decentralised communities for the implementation of blockchain technologies that can optimise processes, always at the cutting edge by staying well-informed and continuously updated on legal, compliance, and regulatory requirements in the space.

Our expertise spans the entire stack, from distributed ledgers to user-facing interfaces. Our capacity to develop exceptionally safe and efficient end-to-end financial solutions based on advanced distributed ledger technology provides unique value to our customers. Our work and expertise have earned us the trust of prestigious organisations like the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to conduct Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) feasibility research in the APAC region. Moreover, our achievements with Hyperledger Iroha have been recognized with a 2020 Global FinTech & RegTech Award and a 2021 Japan Financial Innovation Award.

We were honored to be chosen for the Central Banking FinTech & RegTech Global Awards back in 2020

Throughout the work we do, we always focus on our main mission, which is to design a better world through decentralised technologies, placing specific importance on designing effective user experiences that drive humanity forward. Our core value is to put humanity first, driving collaboration to solve any and all problems by working together. We take great pride in using our products ourselves and building them. We are here to make a positive difference in society. We are passionate, bold, and creative, combining Japanese attention to detail with Swiss precision.

We have accumulated many years of experience building and continuously maintaining open-source and decentralised projects, such as the Hyperledger Iroha blockchain platform as well as the Polkaswap cross-chain DEX, and the SORA network with a bridge to Ethereum and Polkadot. We have developed a crypto wallet, setting the blueprint for wallets within the Polkadot ecosystem when we developed it for the Web3 foundation, leading to several forks, and it has been expanding its capabilities since; aptly named Fearless Wallet, it is a self-custodial native iOS/Android mobile wallet and browser extension supporting over 80 networks and various DeFi integrations. Our portfolio includes the fully-fledged Klaytn open-source DEX, which has cemented our position as a trusted technology provider for Korea's most important public blockchain.

More recently, we have ventured into the telecommunications industry, developing the Fraud Intelligence Blockchain as a joint venture with Orillion Solutions, contributing to the global fight against a multi-million dollar issue that affects the players of all sizes in the industry. Thanks to the flexibility of Hyperledger Iroha, we can provide a robust blockchain infrastructure to compile and share fraud intelligence.

We are renowned for our involvement in groundbreaking and award-winning CBDC projects with various central banks and governments. Throughout the eight years we have been active, we have established an in-house team that covers all areas, including DevOps/QA, DevRel, Technical Writing, Product Design, Ecosystem Growth, Branding and Marketing. Additionally, we have experience working with many contributors on open-source, decentralised projects, community management, quarterly reporting, and KPIs.

Our extensive experience can be categorised into the following groups with a selection of highlighted projects:

Decentralised Exchanges

Polkaswap — A decentralised exchange (DEX) built on the SORA Substrate-based blockchain, offering seamless asset trading within the ecosystem, including various DeFi solutions like bridges (Ethereum, Polkadot), staking, farming products built by the SORA community and more. Polkaswap is hosted by the SORA community. (GitHub)

Klaytn DEX — Developed as a white-label DEX under Klaytn community grant KIR#13 in the Klaytn ecosystem, enhancing liquidity and accessibility in the Klaytn network and cementing our role as a trusted technology provider for the biggest blockchain network in Korea. (GitHhub)

Crypto Wallets

Fearless Wallet — A versatile multi-chain self-custodial wallet supporting over 80 blockchain networks, providing users with secure storage and easy access to their digital assets via native mobile apps and browser extensions, along with many DeFi integrations. (GitHub)

SORA Wallet — A self-custodial DeFi wallet for the SORA ecosystem built with the highest standards of privacy and security in mind. Securely access all SORA network assets anytime, anywhere. Hold, send, and receive tokens on the go. Swap and pool tokens and earn rewards with the Polkaswap integration. (GitHub)

DeFi Tools

ADAR — A solution designed to simplify recurrent batch payments across different scenarios, offering enhanced convenience and efficiency for users engaging in decentralised finance activities. A collaboration between the Abed Group and Soramitsu.

SORA Card — Neobanking-inspired ultimate all-in-one self-custodial crypto solution with IBAN and Mastercard debit card, integrated fiat to crypto gateways and more. A collaboration between the SORA community and Soramitsu.

Blockchain Platforms

Hyperledger Iroha — an efficient, Byzantine-fault-tolerant and flexible distributed ledger, with a WASM-powered smart contract engine and event-driven architecture that we have contributed to, facilitating the development of permissioned networks for various use cases. (GitHub)

SORA — As the initial developer and key technology provider of the SORA decentralised blockchain, we have played a pivotal role in shaping its architecture and functionality. (GitHub)

FUHON — A C++ implementation of the Filecoin protocol, demonstrating our expertise in blockchain protocol development. (GitHub)

KAGOME — A C++ implementation of the Polkadot Host, later becoming a light client, showcasing our capabilities in building interoperable blockchain infrastructures. (GitHub)

Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and Digital Money Wallets

Bakong — Our award-winning and groundbreaking implementation of a central bank digital currency in collaboration with the National Bank of Cambodia, providing a secure and efficient payment system for millions of users using the Hyperledger Iroha blockchain platform.

Proof of Concept (PoC) with the Solomon Islands and PDR Lao — We have conducted successful PoCs for CBDC implementations in both the Solomon Islands and Laos, demonstrating our ability to collaborate with central banks in exploring innovative monetary solutions. In the Solomon Islands, we also demonstrated the use case for seamlessly connecting the CBDC system using a bridge with a public decentralised crypto network, in this case, the SORA network, to enable cross-border transactions.

Various research projects supported by Japanese government organisations towards CBDC and cross-border digital currency implementations in the APAC.
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Telecom Anti-Fraud

Fraud Intelligence Limited — A joint venture between Soramitsu and Orillion Solutions dedicated to combating telecom fraud and ensuring the integrity of telecommunications networks. (GitHub)

To Conclude

This is only the beginning of Soramitsu's journey as we continue to work toward improving humanity through decentralised technologies. On our eighth anniversary, we appreciate your ongoing support and reiterate our commitment to making a better world for all its inhabitants. We are sure that through our hard work and dedication, we will achieve the goals set forth.

Read More Years in Review: 2023, 2021, 2020, Soramitsu Celebrates 5 Years, Soramitsu Celebrates 3 Years

About SORAMITSU

soramitsu.co.jp

SORAMITSU is an award-winning global financial technology company with expertise in developing blockchain-based solutions for digital asset and identity management. Our mission is to use blockchain to promote innovation and solve pressing societal challenges.

Utilising blockchain, SORAMITSU has developed a digital currency infrastructure backbone for the National Bank of Cambodia, a CBDC Proof-of-Concept with the Bank of the Lao PDR and with the Central Bank of Solomon Islands, a closed-loop payment system for the University of Aizu in Japan, an identity verification system prototype for Bank Central Asia in Indonesia, shortlisted in the Monetary Authority of Singapore CBDC Challenge, participated in Asia-Pacific's first proof-of-concept test of a cross-border multi-currency security settlement system using distributed ledger technology with the Asian Development Bank, and in collaboration with the Risk Assurance Group and Orillion Solutions developed the technology core of the Fraud Intelligence Blockchain.

SORAMITSU is an active contributor to many open source projects, such as Klaytn, South Korea's leading Layer-1 blockchain, KAGOME, the C++ Polkadot Host implementation, the SORA crypto-economic system, the Polkaswap DEX, and the DeFi wallet, Fearless Wallet. SORAMITSU also collaborated with Filecoin to develop FUHON, a C++ implementation of their protocol. In addition, SORAMITSU is the developer of and major contributor to the open-source blockchain platform Hyperledger Iroha, a project of Hyperledger Foundation, part of the Linux Foundation, tailored for enterprise and public-sector use. As founding contributors to the Hyperledger Project and cooperation partners of the Web3 Foundation, SORAMITSU is building the digital infrastructure of the future.

Based on these experiences, SORAMITSU aims to deploy cutting-edge technology on a global scale in order to expedite financial inclusion and health, mitigate economic inefficiencies, and contribute to the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals.