Global enterprise consortium R3 and 22 member banks have developed a cross-border payments platform based on Corda, its distributed ledger technology (DLT) software.
The newly developed DLT infrastructure aims to sustain digitized versions of fiat currencies on a decentralized ledger, transferable between participants. R3 also claims the solution will work with central bank-developed digital currencies in the future.
The likes of Barclays, BBVA and HSBC are among the 22 banks to have developed the platform alongside R3. The New York-based startup, which leads its namesake consortium, heralds the solution as a “direct alternative to current systems that can take days to complete an international payment.”
R3 CEO David Rutter stated:
International payments systems have struggled to keep pace with the explosion of global trade and the globalization of the world’s markets…This solution is a game-changer for any bank or company whose business relies on making or receiving cross-border payments.
ICBC, Commerzbank, DNB, Intesa, KBC, KB Kookmin Bank, KEB Hana Bank, Natixis, Shinhan Bank, TD Bank, U.S. Bank and Woori Bank are the other banks involved in the initiative.
Corda, the effort of the R3-led private banking consortium comprised of over 100 global banks, went open-source last year with its code contributed to the Linux Foundation-led Hyperledger project. R2 classifies Corda as a ‘blockchain-inspired’ platform powered by smart contracts that will, according to chief executive Rutter, lead to “the world’s first true international payments system.”
R3 is also involved in Project Ubin, the Singapore central bank’s effort to develop and issue a digital currency equivalent to the Singaporean dollar. Singapore’s central bank trialed a digital Singaporean dollar on a private Ethereum blockchain earlier this year, an endeavor that marked an early example of a central bank-issued digital currency.
The new R3 DLT solution, expected to support and interact with central bank digital currencies, will see its prototype released before the end of 2017.