Toppan, KDDI, NTT DOCOMO, HashPort, DeCurret Establishes The Digital Currency Forum NFT Subcommittee

Toppan Inc. (HQ: Bunkyo-ward, Tokyo Japan, President & Representative Director.: Hideharu Maro, hereinafter “Toppan”), KDDI Corporation (HQ: Chiyoda-ward, Tokyo Japan, President: Makoto Takahashi, hereinafter “KDDI”), NTT DOCOMO, INC. (HQ: Chiyoda-ward, Tokyo Japan, President and Chief Executive Officer: Motoyuki Ii, hereinafter “NTT DOCOMO”), HashPort Inc. (HQ: Bunkyo-ward, Tokyo Japan, CEO: Seihaku Yoshida, hereinafter “HashPort”), DeCurret Inc. (HQ: Chiyoda-ward, Tokyo Japan, President & CEO: Kazuhiro Tokita, hereinafter “DeCurret”) established the Digital Currency Forum NFT Subcommittee on Wednesday, November 24, 2021.

• About the NFT Subcommittee of the Digital Currency Forum

The objective of the NFT Subcommittee of the Digital Currency Forum is to conduct studies and demonstration experiments on the use of digital currency in the NFT*1 (non-fungible token) domain, and to identify issues and propose solutions for the widespread use of digital currency settlement in the NFT domain, which is expected to grow in the future. As the first phase of the project, we have started to study a demonstration experiment that assumes settlement in the NFT marketplace (hereinafter referred to as the demonstration experiment).

• Outline of the Demonstration Experiment

In the demonstration experiment, we plan to build an NFT marketplace that supports digital currencies and verify the circulation of a two-tiered digital currency structure consisting of the Business Process Area that realizes digital currency settlement and the Common Area that manages digital currencies.

　The digital currency in the Business Process Area will be issued on the NFT-specific blockchain "Palette," while the digital currency in the Common Area will be issued on the technology platform provided by DeCurret. It is assumed that NFTs sold in the NFT marketplace on Palette will be settled with digital currency.

Image of the structure of the demonstration experiment

• What is a two-tiered digital currency?

The Digital Currency Forum has been deeply examining the nature of a new digital payment and settlement infrastructure that will contribute to improved convenience for people and economic development. As a result, efforts are underway to develop and commercialize a yen-denominated digital currency with a "two-tiered" structure.

• What is the Common Area?

The Common Area will be a structure shared by all digital currencies issued under the scheme, which will contain information on value and will be responsible for issuance and burn. This is expected to ensure "interoperability" among digital currencies.

• What is the Business Process Area?

The Business Process Areas can be programmed to meet a variety of business needs (i.e., "programmability") and will be responsible for the distribution of digital currency. This will make it possible to meet various business needs, such as linking payments and settlements with logistics and commercial distribution, and simultaneous delivery of goods and services and funds.

• What is the NFT-specific blockchain "palette" (the Business Process Area)?

Palette is a blockchain network optimized for content distribution using Non-Fungible Token (NFT), and aims to enhance the distribution of content from Japan through NFT. Another major feature of the network is that it implements NFT cross-chain technology, which allows NFT issued by Palette to be transferred to other blockchain networks such as Ethereum. Research and development have been conducted by Hashpalette Inc. since March 2020, and the test net has been in operation since March 2021 and the main net since August 2021.

※1: A Non-Fungible Token (NFT) is a token issued on a blockchain that can be proved to be unique and cannot be replaced.

【DeCurret】Established-The-Digital-Currency-Forum-NFT-Subcommittee.pdf