Six Global Banks Sign Up to Issue Stablecoins on IBM’s Now-Live Blockchain Network

Published at: March 18, 2019

Six international banks have reportedly signed letters of intent to issue their own stablecoins backed by their national fiat currencies on IBM’s now-live blockchain-powered payments network, “World Wire.” The news was jointly announced by IBM and Stellar during a keynote at Money 2020 Asia in Singapore, financial news channel Cheddar reported on March 18.

As previously reported, IBM’s cross-border payment network, Blockchain World Wire (BWW) was launched in collaboration with Stellar (XLM) in September 2018. BWW, which went live today and reportedly has over 44 banks on service, aims to leverage cryptocurrencies to enable near real-time international settlements between banks.

In today’s development, Cheddar reports that six banks have confirmed their intent to issue stablecoins backed by their national fiat currencies on BWW — including Brazil’s Banco Bradesco, South Korea’s Bank Busan and the Philippines’ Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation.

Other as-yet-undisclosed banks will reportedly issue stablecoins backed by the euro and Indonesian rupiah, among others, IBM head of blockchain solutions Jesse Lund revealed.

Ahead of today’s bank-issued stablecoin announcement, IBM had also partnered with Stronghold, a Stellar-based, USD-backed asset, to create the Stellar network’s first stablecoin.

Lund has stated that IBM plans to expand its blockchain-powered settlement network with further assets. He said:

"We let the market drive the expansion and selection of the network incrementally. We are really feeling excited that we are on a roll to build something new and revolutionary that's really going to change the landscape of cross-border payments."

As Cheddar reports, BWW currently supports more than 47 currencies for payments across 72 countries. It disintermediates legacy bank settlement systems by introducing the XLM token as an efficient, immutably-tracked settlement instrument for fiat currencies between institutional parties.

IBM does not issue the settlement asset chosen between parties, as Lund had emphasized in an interview earlier this week:

“Our view for stablecoins is really that they should be more broadly accessible and what World Wire seeks to do is to provide fungibility of digital assets across financial institutions.”

Tags
Adoption
Blockchain
Cryptocurrencies
Payments
Banks
Ibm
Stellar
Related Posts
IBM Hints at Stablecoin Cross-Border Payments Solution for Financial Institutions
The head of blockchain solutions for IBM, Jesse Lund, has hinted that bank-targeted stablecoins will be a major forthcoming development for the tech giant’s blockchain-powered cross-border payments solution. Lund made his remarks during an interview on financial news channel Cheddar on March 15. While more details are set to be imminently announced next week, Lund told Cheddar that “market demand” is driving IBM to develop a stablecoin solution for financial institutions. “More than a few banks around the world [...] see tremendous business benefit to issue stablecoins in their native fiat currency,” he said. When asked how IBM’s solution compares …
Adoption / March 15, 2019
10 Things to Track With Blockchain
After struggling to receive recognition of legitimacy within the mainstream zeitgeist during its sophomoric years, distributed ledger technology (DLT) now comprises the driving force behind a new wave of technological creative destruction. Today, we are going to take a look at some of the industries and processes that are most dramatically undergoing a transformation in response to the advent of blockchain technology. Food The opaque nature of global supply chains poses a significant challenge to efforts to ensure that the commodities, labor and inputs required to produce goods are from a safe and ethical origin. In order to tackle these …
Adoption / June 30, 2019
WEF Report: 40 Central Banks Are Considering Digital Currencies, Blockchain Tech
Dozens of central banks around the world are currently or soon will be experimenting with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), according to a recent report from the World Economic Forum. Citing a January 2019 report by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the WEF states that at least 40 central banks across globally are conducting research projects and pilots with blockchain technology that aim to address such issues as financial inclusion, payments efficiency and cybersecurity. The report states that CBDCs, which are issued on distributed ledgers and can be transacted in a peer-to-peer manner, will purportedly enable faster and more …
Adoption / April 3, 2019
Major Canadian Exchange Coinsquare Acquires Zero-Fee Payment Network StellarX
Major Canadian crypto exchange Coinsquare has acquired StellarX, a Stellar (XLM)-based zero-fee decentralized payment network, according to a press release published on Feb. 14. According to the announcement, Bermuda-based StellarX will be a fully owned subsidiary of Coinsquare and will seek regulatory approval to operate and expand its service under Coinsquare’s compliance. The new acquisition has followed Coinsquare’s recent purchase of private Stellar wallet BlockEQ in December 2018, the press release notes. The firm is reportedly set to be rebranded to become the anchor wallet for the StellarX platform. Megha Bambra, co-founder of BlockEQ, will now lead StellarX and continue …
Adoption / Feb. 15, 2019
Visa Set to Launch Blockchain-Based Digital Identity System with IBM in Q1 2019
Visa is readying its blockchain-based digital identity system for cross-border payments for launch in the first quarter of 2019, according to a press release published October 21. The system, dubbed Visa B2B Connect, will provide a blockchain-based digital identity solution for financial institutions to securely process cross-border payments. The system reportedly tokenizes sensitive business data – such as banking details and account numbers – granting them a unique cryptographic identifier that will be used for transactions on the platform. Kevin Phalen, global head at Visa Business Solutions, suggests that the system will help with fraud: “B2B Connect’s digital identity greatly …
Adoption / Oct. 22, 2018