Esports & Video Games
CANADA, SINGAPORE AND UK EXPLORE BLOCKCHAIN CROSS-BORDER PAYMENTS
The Bank of Canada, Bank of England and the Monetary Authority of Singapore are reported to be exploring the possibilities of using distributed ledger tech for cross-border payment procedures.
Currently consumers are lumbered with high fees and commissions, and artificially long transaction times, because the industry still largely uses an antiquated system that is not fit for the 21st century, but which generates large profits for some stakeholders.
However, according to a report by BankingTech, Canada, the United Kingdom and Singapore are looking into the benefits of using blockchain tech to make almost instant peer-to-peer cross-border payments, at a fraction of the traditional cost.
The three financial institutions compiled a report called “ Cross-border interbank payments and settlements: Emerging opportunities for digital transformation”, in which they put forward their opinions regarding blockchain tech.
Victoria Cleland, Executive director for banking, payments and financial resilience at BoE, underlined the issue’s importance when she stated: “It is important that cross-border payments, which totalled 1.8 times global GDP in 2016, are enhanced too. They are at the centre of the international financial system; enabling trade, investment and money transfers.”
The report, which discussed conventional payment models compared with DLT alternatives, suggested the possibility of using central bank-issued digital currencies – something that has already started to be experimented with in several countries.
Venezuela has famously introduced the Petro in an attempt to mitigate runaway inflation due to the severe economic crisis in the country, whilst Iran is scheduled to launch the Crypto-Rial in attempt to mitigate the effects of international sanctions. But it is not just crisis hit nations looking at central bank-issued digital currencies; Dubai is planning to launch a digital version of the Dirham (read about that here), and the Marshall Islands have announced plans for a true crypto national currency called the Sovereign (more about that here).
Though the Canadian-British-Singaporean report did conclude that more research is needed before concrete conclusions can be drawn, it does illustrate how quickly blockchain and digital asset technology has gone from derided fringe to fundamentally important mainstream in just a few short years.
