IBM plans to demonstrate a blockchain-based alternative payments system at the Sibos banking conference in October in Sydney.
IBM’s Blockchain World Wire aim is to provide banks with a means to simultaneously clear and settle near real-time payments transactions across borders.
The company is working with Stellar on the product, which converts fiat currencies into digital assets for transmission across the network.
“Financial institutions use their existing payment systems – seamlessly connected to World Wire’s APIs – to convert the first fiat currency into the digital asset. World Wire then simultaneously converts the digital asset into the second fiat currency, completing the transaction. All transaction details are recorded onto an immutable blockchain for clearing”, – IBM explains.
The concept promises faster payments processing, lower costs and increased efficiency, while opening up access to new markets and financing activities, such as Open Account trade transactions.
The company has already run tests of a US dollar-pegged ‘stablecoin’ from startup Stronghold on the Stellar network, and is understood to have begun a low-key launch of Blockchain World Wire ahead of its presentation to banks in Sydney.
