While most of the companies are still debating on the “what if’s” of the blockchain tech, some of them have gone ahead with the technology and it seems its working out pretty well for them. Just today, Standard Chartered accomplished its first ever finance deal powered by blockchain.
The Singapore’s English-language financial daily The Business Times, reported about the Singapore unit of the London-based multinational banking and financial services firm, Standard Chartered and its successful blockchain endeavor.
As per the bank’s reports, the blockchain solution, which was developed by the blockchain-based startup Distributed Ledger Technologies, had made things more easy and efficient. An agri-business supply chain deal, which takes a typical time of between five to seven days, was completed within just one day owing to the blockchain technology.
If we take a look at trade finance transactions, they were worth over $9 trillion in 2017. And to this day the industry largely remains dependent on legacy systems and burdensome paper-based systems.
On the other hand, according to the 2017 annual report, Standard Chartered holds more than $600 billion in assets on their balance sheet.
And today, the firm made it crystal clear that the blockchain solution, in their case, had restructured the digitization and the process of exchanging trade documents between parties within the supply chain network; all to make it more efficient, secure and transparent.
To be honest, the news of Standard Chartered achieving this blockchain-powered feat doesn’t come as much of a surprise, as it is one of a dozen major banks, that has jointly developed and launched a blockchain trade finance platform referred to as eTrade Connect, only last fall. HSBC and BNP Paribas are among those banks as well.
There are certain things that are expected from the blockchain technology, like its potential to mitigate the risk factor of fraud, especially in the letters of credit (LoC), amongst other relevant documents in the industry.
Blockchain technology prevailed today and we hope to see more of its successful application throughout different industries. For updates, stay tuned to BlockPublisher.
