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A CONSORTIUM OF nine major European banks have chosen Dublin for the base of their blockchain initiative – the latest group to develop the emerging technology in the Irish capital.
The We.trade group, formerly known as Digital Trade Chain, includes financial heavy-hitters like Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Santander.
It was originally formed in 2017 to explore and develop blockchain technologies for carrying out transactions between banks and clients.
The consortium recently completed a number of cross-border financial trades using its blockchain platform.
It was developed using technology from IBM and Hyperledger Fabric, which was built by the open-source-focused Linux Foundation.
Blockchain refers to technology that uses a network of computers to maintain a decentralised ledger that records and verifies all transactions.
The consortium’s main aim is to make cross-border transactions more efficient. Its platform is currently used for trades among 11 European countries, although these do not include Ireland.
According to the consortium, through which the banks share resources to develop the platform, these trades were the first “commercially viable open account trades” using blockchain technology.
The We.trade platform uses smart contracts to launch and administer agreements between banks and clients. These allow two parties to come to terms on an agreement that is written in code logged on the blockchain.
This digital ledger lets both sides verify a transaction and ensure that terms of the contract have been adhered to.
On the We.trade platform, the smart contracts allow for each party to receive instant triggers that track how one side is following the agreement and when it is time for the other side to follow up, such as by sending payment.
‘No longer an experiment’
After much development and testing, banks are now starting to bring more clients on board, according to We.trade chief operating officer Roberto Mancone, who formerly headed up the disruptive technologies division at Deutsche Bank.
“It’s no longer a proof of concept, it’s no longer an experiment, the platform is now made available to the clients,” he told Fora.
“They can find counterparts in other countries and start trading using the platform, creating a smart contract and then asking for any financial services that the platform foresees, which can be financing an invoice or it could be a simple payment.”
The consortium is exercising some caution with the platform by slowly rolling it out to more banks.
“We want to monitor the platform, we are making this available to selected clients, helping them to understand how the platform works,” Mancone said.
We.trade licenses its platform to the banks, which in turn can use it across sectors from logistics to food and manufacturing. But this still requires some instruction.
“It’s not just an app you download and switch on. It’s user-friendly, but it requires some sort of understanding from the clients on how it can be valuable to them.”
Dublin base
The firm behind We.trade was incorporated in Ireland in February, a decision Mancone said came because its backers were “looking for a location that was kind of neutral”.
For now, the consortium is hiring for a small number of roles. Developers are scattered around several countries, but the project management team and the architectural lead are in Dublin.
“We wanted access to a pool of resources with certain capabilities in terms of technology,” Mancone said.
“We thought that Dublin was a good pool because there’s a good concentration of capabilities and quality of people who can help us in the development of this activity.”
While the blockchain development ecosystem in Ireland is small, a number of operations have begun to cluster in the capital.
Bank of Ireland has worked with Deloitte on proofs-of-concept around how the technology can be integrated into its systems. The latter has established its EMEA blockchain development lab in Dublin.
ConsenSys, a major US blockchain development firm, launched a Dublin office earlier this year with plans to hire up to 60 people.
Irish banks
Mancone describes We.trade as having a “small body with a big head”. It’s made up of nine major banks, but in many ways it needs to act like a startup.
“It’s a big head and shoulders, but at the same time we try to maintain the agility,” he said.
Even though We.trade has established an entity in Dublin, it’s not yet working with any Irish banks – although Mancone said he was “more than happy” to work with financial institutions here.
“We are waiting and hoping of course that they show interest like the other countries have shown so far,” he said.
During the consortium’s initial development, a decision was made to halt its membership at nine banks – although that number may increase soon.
“It would have been more complicated to have a higher number of banks doing development for the platform,” Mancone explained.
“Now that the platform is developed of course we are opening to many more banks. We realise it’s not enough to have nine banks in the world. We are in contact with many banks in other countries.”
An earlier version of this article said Roberto Mancone was the head of Deutsche Bank’s disruptive technologies division. He no longer holds that position.
Written by Jonathan Keane and posted on Fora.ie
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Isn’t it already like mid December?
@Adam Rekio: It may seem suspiciously like mid-December but don’t let that mislead you because that’s just what they want you to think…
@Adam Rekio: William is right! Don’t just follow all the sheeple who simply swallow what the MSM tell them to! Do your own research. Those scientists and their MSM propagandists want everyone to believe it is mid-December. Take the red pill! You’ll soon wake up to what month it really is!
@Stephen Rogan: They’re shameless and totally amoral in the lies they tell! I don’t believe for a second that Y2K thing will be as bad as they claim and they’re still trying to convince me we had people on the moon. Have you ever seen the moon? It’s tiny even when it’s full! A bit like a brain that’s been fed one too many conspiracy theories really…
@Adam Rekio: nope. 16th pm onwards is mid December
@TomTraubert: onwards until when ? You’re simultaneously saying it’s a point in time rather than a time span, and that it’s a time span (without elaborating) in the same short sentence. Impressive
@William Tallon: LOL
Language like could,may,maybe,might,possible, probably,are what is scaring the life out of our older generation. When have any of the scary predictions on figures actually happened? The government have a hold on people and they don’t want to let go.
And in 6 months time it will be something else becoming dominant.. Why don’t the experts save themselves time and warn us that omicron isn’t the last instead of acting shocked everytime.
Coronavirus March 2020,
Alpha November 2020
Delta July 2021
Omicron November 2021
Anyone see the cycle
@David Lee: was just brought out in time for the Christmas number 1
@Philip McLoughlin: lol
Loads more scaremongering
No one cares
@Rob Gale: we share a border with this country
Has there actually been any deaths reported due to omicron? Or even hospitalisations? This is insanity.
@Hanna Crowe: not really. Insanity is listening to anti-vaxxers and those who do not understand science. A virus can only spread by close human contact. Vaccines prevent serious illness. Simple.
Dominant in 4 days. What’s the R value of this variant, 100?
Thank god for boosters. The WHO would have them sent them to timbuktu if they had the decision
@Peazel: you know more than the health experts, very impressive.
the health experts don’t seem to know a lot about it either if you read what they say about it, they use an awful lot of words like this could happen, this might happen, if this happens, maybe this might happen.
I thought the UK announced two weeks ago that they had beaten Covid with their approach of opening society during summer when people could be outside. And that everyone else’s (meaning Europe’s) had been wrong. What a shower of raving loonies.
@lelookcoco: at the start of the year most people were expecting an open summer, and winter. Vaccines, you know.
And if we banned cars and outdoor activities there would be less deaths…… We going have to assess. A world in which has increasing older population is not comparable to pandemics of yesteryear.
The trouble here is governments around the world think their ahead of the virus when it’s quite the opposite!
If Omicron pretty much goes about undetected then you can bet it’s already infected more than the tracing system has picked up..
Everyone still needs to keep their gaurd up because Delta is still the big bad circulating.
Vaccines work or not?
@Aonghus O Flaherty: Going off what they said last year…Nope.
@Josepi: What did they say last year?
@Aonghus O Flaherty: Yes. If you need proof, campare last January to now, look at the hospital figures, ICU numbers and deaths, and then think about the most important difference: last January we were locked down with only the essentials available. And now the country is open except for nightclubs
@Josepi: Who are “They”? If “They” are those who thought that vaccines are a magical shield that the virus bounces off, you were listening to the wrong people.
The Dup should put up or shut up and mind thier own business
Dr Facebook has arrived in the comments
@DJ François: Welcome:)
So sorry for those that go by way of the virus. For most others, its business as usual with the odd workaround.
have your say