This is Charles Brett’s start-of-the-week Enterprise Times ‘blockchain catch-up’ Week 17. Necessarily it is idiosyncratic and selective.
It is not intended to be comprehensive but does seek to highlight ‘Quick Takes’ on specific developments as well interesting pieces to read, a listing of some (not all) announcements/press releases and pointers to upcoming events.
Quick Takes – Charles Brett’s Blockchain Catch-up Week 17
DBS, JP Morgan and Temasek to transform interbank value movements?
Last week DBS, JP Morgan and Temasek announced they are establishing a platform that they claim will transform interbank value movements. The platform, designed to be open, hopes to attract participation by banks globally. It will leverage blockchain technology and digitise M11 commercial bank money to reduce current frictions and latency for cross-border payments, trade transactions and foreign exchange settlements.
Partior, the operating company being formed, builds on the experience gained with Project Ubin. It aims to disrupt the traditional cross-border payments ‘hub and spoke’ model which has produced multiple pain points. For example, multiple validations on payment details by banks translates to costly and onerous post transaction exception handling and reconciliation activity.
In effect, Partior will seek to address the commonly perceived need for improved digital clearing and settlement in the banking industry. To do this Partior will use blockchain-based solutions to enable programmable value transfer for participating banks (and their customers) in real-time.
Quick Take: is this so revolutionary? According to Takis Georgakopoulos, Global Head of Wholesale Payments, JP Morgan: “We believe a shared ledger infrastructure such as the Partior platform will change the way payments are cleared and settled, through this first-of-its-kind, wholesale payments rail based on digitised commercial bank money. After five years of being a partner in Project Ubin, … the launch of Partior … marks yet another milestone for JP Morgan and the (financial) industry – blockchain-based wholesale payments infrastructure where information and value can change hands around the world in a 24/7, frictionless way.”
If delivered as described, and with lower costs (whether monetary and/or temporal), it could be. Many will watch, and hope – especially customers fed up with slow, expensive cross-border payments, trade transactions and FX services.
7 pieces to read – Charles Brett’s Blockchain Catch-up Week 17
- EIB uses blockchain for new 100 million-euro bond sale
- Verdigris Ensemble takes flight on the blockchain
- The blockchain playbook: from LVMH’s Aura to Arianee
- Time is running out to win the blockchain race
- ESG impact watch: blockchain
- How blockchain technology is fixing payments today and what comes next
- South Korea reportedly set to approve cryptocurrency-focused fund.
Selected announcements/press releases/opinions – Charles Brett’s Blockchain Catch-up Week 17
- China auto industry body launches data platform for smart cars; may include Tesla, Volkswagen, Geely, Nio and SAIC Motor (information)
- Blockchain is changing the world. Should you buy Bitcoin? (opinion)
- From EVMs to blockchain-based e-voting? (opinion)
- Blue Tech develops CYF4 blockchain for the office (announcement)
- European debt pioneer trumpets revolution coming from blockchain (opinion)
- Voyager Digital partners with Blockdaemon to provide secure node infrastructure (announcement)
- ‘From dial-up to broadband’: Banco Santander exec talks up DLT utilisation in finance (opinion)
- Blockchain hackers netted over US$100M in Q1 2021 (report)
- Sygnum Bank joins InterWork Alliance to shape global tokenization standards (announcement).
Selected upcoming events
- Polkadot Decoded (20th May 2021)
- Blockchain Fest 2021 (10th-11th June 2021)
- Global DeFi Summit 2021 (24th June 2021)
- Blockchain Conference/Blockchain Expo Europe 2021 (23rd-24th November 2021)
- LA Blockchain Summit (November 2nd-3rd, 2021)
- Blockchance Europe 2021 (8th-10th December 2021 – was July 7th-9th, 2021).