U.S. forex exchange (FX) settlement giant CLS’ blockchain payment netting service has gone live today, Nov. 28. The platform which was conceived and built with the active cooperation with IBM has some of the big banks as its initial clients.
The release ststed that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley both of which have indicated interest in the technology will be among the earliest clients of the payment netting service which reportedly settles $5 trillion in daily payments as it serves clients such as JPMorgan, Citigroup and Barclays.
The release limited the identities of the company’s clients to the big names and seemed not keen to state who all their customers are. Its CLSNet which has been described as the first global FX market enterprise application running on blockchain has global corporations from differnts parts of the world interested in its services. These include Bank of China’s Hong Kong branch.
The launch is the result of a project that has been in the offing for months. The CLS test-run was announced in July while the launch was slated for this month as reported by several media outlets.
Alan Marquard, chief strategy and development officerof the company speaking on its services said:
“A standardized and automated payment netting process will lead to improved intraday liquidity, reduced cost, improved operational efficiencies and ultimately support business growth.”
The project may have prempted some of the Wall Street heavyweights such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley which have earlier in this year signaled their intentions to launch Bitcoin-related products amid growing interest in the cryptocurrency industry by institutional investors.
Blockchain has continued to find use in payments with companies such as Ripple Labs leading in cross-border remittance services. The success of XRP in this field has no doubt been the precursor responsible for wider interest in the blockchain-based payment systems.
Marie Wieck, general manager of IBM Blockchain which has been one of the companies at the forefront of blockchain patent acquisition and helped build CLSNet, said:
“With CLSNet now in production with two of the world’s largest banks, for a major market function, it is a testament to the ongoing maturity of blockchain technology and the value that it can deliver in practice.”
Experts have continued to highlight the fact that blockchain will find most applications in digital payments. Even though many industries are working hard at finding its applications regarding their operations, it is obvious that payment solutions will continue to blaze the trail as fas as blockchain technology is concerned.
