Blockchain Catch-upThis 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

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

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here