IBM (Big Blue) is back in the news and ready to roll out a program that has been in beta test for......way too long. Blockchain World Wire is using the stellar blockchain network to attract institutions and eliminate banking intermediaries for international payments. Big Blue says this new financial rail "can simultaneously clear and settle cross-border payments in near real-time." Pretty cool. Kind of "shames" Ripple and that network. Go Big Blue.
Bill Taylor/Fintek Capital
IBM is taking its long-in-the-works blockchain-based payment system out of beta, with the launch of a new product called Blockchain World Wire.
Aimed at institutions and harnessing the stellar blockchain network, Big Blue says its new financial rail "can simultaneously clear and settle cross-border payments in near real-time."
Similar to other blockchain-based payment networks such as Ripple, World Wire attempts to do away with banking intermediaries that add complexity and cost to the traditional international payments systems.
According to a document provided by IBM, the product works by substituting the banking intermediaries normally needed for cross-border payments with digital assets sent over a distributed network.
The company says on its website:"Two financial institutions transacting together agree to use a stable coin, central bank digital currency or other digital asset as the bridge asset between any two fiat currencies. The digital asset facilitates the trade and supplies important settlement instructions."
Effectively, using World Wire APIs plugged into banks' existing systems, fiat currency is exchanged into a digital asset at bank A. It is then transmitted to bank B, where it is converted into a second fiat currency. "All transaction details are recorded onto an immutable blockchain for clearing," says IBM.
As CoinDesk reported, IBM was in July revealed to be working with a startup called Stronghold on the launch of a low-volatility stablecoin that will run on the stellar blockchain and use its consensus mechanism to verify transactions...
Full Article at Coindesk