It wasn’t very long ago when a Blockchain was just a glimmer in a Nakamoto’s eye before it launched the transformational decentralized digital currency, Bitcoin. After several successful years of testing, through millions, if not billions of transactions through it around the globe, it seems the mainstream is impressed enough to jump into its waters. The latest example is a new partnership between Wells Fargo and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia that is using Blockchain technology as we speak. This partnership is sending physical goods across the globe, with some smart contracts thrown in for good measure, according to Bloomberg . It appears that the maiden voyage of this new use of Bitcoin’s innovative Blockchain technology has already begun. A ship has left Houston, Texas, headed for Qingdao, China with 88 bales of cotton. These aren’t just any ‘ole bales of cotton, however. The $35,000 worth of Brighann cotton will be the initial test run of a new way of doing global trade finance. We’ll know in about two weeks if the eagle has landed on a Blockchain. How Familiar are Banks with Blockchain These bales will be scanned in by the port staff, as usual, but this time it will trigger a smart contract to authorize payments for these bales through an entry on the Blockchain. There will be no paper trail. There will be no human hands manually performing these confirmation functions. If successful, the old way of doing business may prove to be obsolete. “Absolutely trade finance is going to move this way,” Jonathan Perkinson, who leads Deloitte’s global Blockchain initiative in Sydney. “Really the question becomes how quickly the sector can align to one solution.” We’re talking about a $4,000,000,000,000 (four trillion U.S. dollars) global trade business that may get an overhaul in the next […]
