Japan Mobile-Phone Operator NTT Docomo to Invest $4B Into Web3

NTT Docomo, Japan's largest mobile-phone network, pledged to invest up to 600 billion yen (US$4 billion) into Web3 infrastructure. The company will collaborate with Astar Foundation, the developer of the public blockchain Astar Network, and Accenture to speed up Web3 adoption, according to a statement provided to CoinDesk.

They will set up a consortium that allows individuals and corporations to utilize tokens for governance. “Collaborating with NTT Docomo, a company that has created case studies that have been used by tens of millions of people, we will further spread Web3,” Astar Network founder Sota Watanabe said in the statement.

Japan's government owns one third of the stock of NTT Docomo’s parent company, NTT.

Japan's Web3 policy has been given by a jumpstart this year by politicians keen to do away with red tape and a customarily slow decision-making process. A Web3 policy office now exists under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Last week, the country's digital ministry announced it would create a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to explore Web3 technology.