The world's four largest banks jointly launched the "Settlement Coin", which may be launched in 2018 for commercial applications

According to the Financial Times, four banks around the world have collaborated on a blockchain project to establish a clear means of settling global transactions.

According to the Financial Times, Bank of New York Mellon, Deutsche Bank, Santander and UBS hope to launch a commercial-grade blockchain system in 2018. The banks are working with London-based blockchain startup Clearmatics.

Martin Arnold of the Financial Times says a formal announcement of the news will be made tomorrow.

He explains in the article:

“The Multipurpose Settlement Coin, a solution developed based on Clearmatics technology, aims to enable financial institutions to pay for securities, such as bonds and stocks, without waiting for traditional transfers to complete. Instead, they will use the digital currency to convert directly into central bank cash, cutting the time and cost of post-trade settlement and clearing.”

It is reported that a report released by Oliver Wyman last year showed that the total cost of clearing and settling transactions in the financial industry is estimated to be between US$65 billion and US$80 billion each year.

The banks involved in the project have spent nearly two years exploring various applications of blockchain technology and are members of the R3 distributed ledger consortium.