Japan company issues digital graduation certificates using blockchain technology

Japanese company LasTrust Inc. has introduced a service that provides digital graduation certificates on the blockchain. The service digitizes traditional graduation certificates using CloudCerts, a platform designed to issue certificates on the blockchain. The service is intended to reduce face-to-face contact when receiving certificates during the COVID-19 pandemic.

CloudCerts is the name of a Software as a Service (SaaS) provided by the company. Certificates issued using CloudCerts are designed to incorporate the electronic signature of an individual educational institution. CloudCerts can safely digitize certificates while ensuring the authenticity of the original. Students can submit their graduation certificates to online recruitment agencies.

Because CloudCerts is a wholly online service, it can be introduced immediately at no cost. The process of receiving a request to issue a certificate from a student until the certificate is issued is said to take five days. Because the contents of digital graduation letters are protected from fraud by a blockchain, they can be used as an original copy, despite their digital format.

What’s more, blockchain certificates issued by the company conform to the global Blockcerts standard. Blockcerts-compatible blockchain certificates have been introduced by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. It’s expected that digitized graduation certificates will be the norm in the years to come.

Gift certificates on the blockchain

In the meantime, Japan has also seen an increase in gift certificates issued on the blockchain. On June 18, SBI Holdings announced that it had started providing services for digitizing FY2020 premium local gift certificates issued by the Ukiha City Society of Commerce and Industry, Fukuoka Prefecture.

When digitizing premium gift certificates, Kyushu Electric Power provides a system platform to Chikuho Bank to help it digitize gift certificates issued by the Ukiha City Society of Commerce and Industry. Using blockchain technology, SBI electronically issues a portion of the amount of the premium gift certificates issued in paper.

SBI Holdings stated that it will revitalize regional economies as they adapt to a post-coronavirus society and increase user convenience. It also declared that it aims to reduce burdens related to the issuance of paper-based local gift certificates, accelerate the use of member stores based on usage data, and visualize the circular flow of the economy.

SBI is said that it will engage in regional revitalization using blockchain technology in cooperation with individual companies. This type of activity using tokens aimed at revitalizing regional economies has been tried throughout Japan. Gifu Prefecture has issued Sarubobo Coin, a cryptocurrency named after the prefecture’s popular mascot, while Kamakura, a popular tourist destination, has issued the community currency “Machi no Coin” to facilitate activities related to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These activities could accelerate in local cities in Japan after the coronavirus pandemic.