Title:Japan's Biggest Bank to Switch on Blockchain Payments in 2020

Japan's biggest bank has codeveloped a new blockchain, or distributed financial ledger, to boost the speed and lower the cost of payments.

日本最大银行已经开发了一个新的拦截链，或分布式金融分类账，以提高支付速度和降低成本。

Over the past year and a half, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, or  "MUFG"  for short, partnered with Akamai, a U.S. tech company, to design a blockchain that can handle 1 million transactions per second at latencies of less than 2 seconds, meaning the time it takes to confirm a batch of transactions on the ledger, the companies said. They expect the service to be capable of handling 10 million transactions per second as they continue to improve the technology, they said.

在过去的一年半的时间里，三菱UFJ金融集团(Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group)或“MUFG”(MUFG)，与美国Akamai结成了伙伴关系。这些公司表示，科技公司设计一个拦截链，能够每秒在不到2秒的时间内处理100万项交易，这意味着在分类账上确认一批交易需要时间。他们表示，他们预计这项服务能够每秒处理1,000万宗交易，同时继续改进这项技术。

In contrast, Bitcoin, the original cryptocurrency backed by the world's first blockchain, can process seven transactions per second at latencies exceeding 10 minutes.

与此相反，比特币作为世界上第一个拦截链支撑的原始密码货币，可在超过10分钟的时间内每秒处理7次交易。

Unlike Bitcoin's blockchain, MUFG and Akamai's is  "permissioned,"  meaning that only verified computers can join the network that orders and confirms payments. The blockchain is built on Akamai's cloud service, called Akamai Intelligent Platform.

与比特币的屏障链不同，MUFG和Akamai的“许可”是指只有经核实的电脑才能加入订购和确认付款的网络，其屏蔽链是建立在Akamai的云服务上，被称为Akamai智能平台。

Blockchain technology has been a hot theme among banks and other companies looking to revamp their databases. The trend has attracted interest from big names, such as JPMorgan Chase, Walmart, IBM, Maersk, Daimler, Airbus, and plenty of corporations in between.

Block连锁技术一直是银行和其他希望改造其数据库的公司的热门话题。这一趋势吸引了大客户的兴趣，如摩根大通(JPMorgan Chase)、沃尔玛(Walmart)、IBM、Maersk、Daimler、Airbus，以及中间众多公司。

"For years, the financial industry has sought to utilize blockchain to secure and hasten transaction processing, and lower associated costs,"  Nobuyuki Hirano, president and group CEO of MUFG, said in a statement. His firm is confident, he said, that the new tech will  "support significantly greater volumes of high-speed payment transactions without compromising the level of security required to combat fraudulent transactions."

“多年来，金融行业一直试图利用拦截链来保证并加快交易处理，并降低相关成本，” MUFG总裁兼集团首席执行官诺布吉·希兰诺(Nobuyi Hirano)在一份声明中表示。他说，他的公司相信，新技术将“在不影响打击欺诈交易所需的安全水平的情况下，大力支持大量的高速支付交易”。

Andy Champagne, chief technology officer of Akamai Labs, an R&D unit at the tech firm, said that the blockchain his team co-created with MUFG is best suited for making traditional payments online. He said he eventually expects the tech to help pave the way for  "micropayment-type transactions,"  where many people pay frequent, minuscule fees for services, like paying a few cents to read an article on a website, as well as  "Internet of Things" -style payments, where connected devices operate autonomously, like a washing machine automatically placing an order for more detergent when supplies run low.

科技公司研发部门Akamai Labs的首席技术长安迪·查帕甘(Andy Champane)表示，他与MUFG共同创建的拦截团队最适合在网上支付传统款项。他说，他最终期望这些技术能够为“小额支付型交易”铺平道路，因为许多人经常支付微小的服务费，比如在网站上读一篇文章，并且“物联网”式的付款，连接装置能够自主操作，就像洗衣机在供应量低时自动订购更多的洗涤剂。

"We expect to roll forward on the payment network application with Mitsubishi in early 2020,"  Champagne said.

“我们希望在2020年初与三菱一起推出付款网络应用程序，”Champagne说。

MUFG has been one of the most bullish big corporations to dabble in blockchain tech. The bank is planning to test its own cryptocurrency in the months to come, as Manichi, a Japanese newspaper, reported earlier this year. The firm also invested in Coinbase, the biggest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, and has worked on blockchain pilots and projects with IBM, financial industry consortium R3, Japanese conglomerate Hitachi, Japanese IT firm NTT Data, and digital payments firm Ripple, among others.

正如日本报纸马尼奇(Manichi)今年早些时候发布的那样，MUFG一直是最看好的大企业之一，它计划在未来几个月内测试自己的加密货币。公司还向美国最大的公司科因基地投资。加密汇兑，并与IBM、金融行业财团R3、日本财团日立公司、日本IT公司NTT Data和数字支付公司Ripple等合作开展拦截链试点和项目。

Tom Leighton, Akamai's CEO and cofounder, said in a statement that the jointly developed blockchain should address technical obstacles, like security and speed,  "that have to date hindered broader use of blockchain."

阿卡玛伊首席执行官兼共同创始人汤姆·莱顿在一份声明中说，共同开发的拦截链应该解决技术障碍，比如安全和速度。

Champagne said Akamai filed for patents covering the tech at the end of last year.

Champagne说，Akamai去年底申请了涵盖该技术的专利。