The number of members of Japan Blockchain Collaboration Alliance (BCCC) exceeds 100, and a blockchain university is established to cultivate scarce talents

After the Hyperledger project broke through the 100-member mark, a Japanese blockchain alliance has quietly expanded its membership to more than 100.

Since its establishment in April this year, the Blockchain Collaboration Consortium (BCCC) has continued to expand its membership. BCCC members include Microsoft Japan , Sumitomo Mitsui Insurance , PwC , Bitbank and ConsenSys , among others.

The group has announced the successful graduation of the 100th ‘student’ of its Blockchain University program – a sign that BCCC’s previously announced push into blockchain education is bearing fruit.

In a blog post published today, Pina Hirano, founder and CEO of BCCC founding member Infoteria, called the blockchain university the only one of its kind in Japan and hinted that the consortium is working on other blockchain trading projects.

Hirano wrote:

“Financial technology and blockchain are advancing at a very fast pace, and BCCC will add new members and hold more active activities so that the development of domestic blockchain and financial technology will not be delayed.

Hirano pointed out that the total number of BCCC members has reached 109, but the current number on the BCCC website is still 101.

Japan and Blockchain

Over the past few months, Japan has become a hotbed of blockchain exploration and interest.

In November, distributed ledger startup Ripple launched a blockchain consortium of 42 banks, aiming to use blockchain technology to create a network that can process cross-border payments in near real time.

Earlier this month, Mizuho Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and other banks published results of a banking blockchain trial with Deloitte Japan.

Despite the tests, Japan has said it is facing a shortage of blockchain developers, an issue also reported by Reuters earlier this year.

In order to solve the problem of shortage of blockchain talents, BCCC has trained 2 classes of students and provided 8 courses, including 'Blockchain Basics' training, especially teaching about Bitcoin blockchain. The teaching duration is 2 months and the teaching is in Japanese.

The third class is now open for enrollment and will start in January 2017.