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🇰🇭 Bakong vs 🇯🇵 Zengin

Cambodia vs Japan · Real-time payment systems compared

🇰🇭 Bakong

Cambodia
2025 Transactions1.3 billion
2025 Value (USD)$220.7bn
Volume YoY+118.0%
Launched2020
OperatorNBC
SettlementInstant

🇯🇵 Zengin

Japan
2025 Transactions2.0 billion
2025 Value (USD)$28.6tn
Volume YoY+3.5%
Launched1973
OperatorJapanese Bankers Association
SettlementNear-instant

Key differences

Infrastructure comparison

CapabilityBakongZengin
QR Code Payments
Wallet Support
24/7 Availability
Cross-Border
ISO 20022
Request to Pay
Open API
Alias/Proxy

About each system

Bakong

Cambodia's national payment platform launched by the National Bank of Cambodia in October 2020, built on a permissioned Hyperledger Iroha DLT with an integrated central-bank-issued digital tenge equivalent in both KHR and USD. Bakong enables 24/7 interbank fund transfers, QR-code retail payments via the KHQR standard, and P2P transfers. Notable for its dual-currency design (aimed at supporting the government's promotion of the riel in a heavily dollarised economy) and its extensive cross-border interoperability with Thailand's PromptPay, Laos' LAPNet, Vietnam's NAPAS and India's UPI.

Zengin

Japan's domestic interbank clearing network, one of the oldest electronic payment systems in the world, connecting over 1,000 banks. Originally batch-only; upgraded to 24/7 real-time in 2018 via the More Time System. Underpins consumer real-time transfers in every Japanese bank's mobile app, any-bank ATM transfers, and the bank-funding legs of major consumer wallets (PayPay, LINE Pay, Rakuten Pay, au PAY). Operated by the Japanese Bankers Association with settlement through the BOJ. Note: data includes all Zengin transactions (real-time and batch-processed).

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