Banks begin trial for blockchain-based foreign exchange

Cobalt DL has begun beta testing its blockchain-based, peer-to-peer foreign exchange network with a number of major banks.

The venture was founded by ex-Citigroup and Deutsche Bank currency exchange expert Andy Coyne and is backed by eight major banks and financial institutions.

Cobalt DL aims to reduce the billions in costs of processing forging exchange transactions by establishing a single verified record of transactions through the blockchain and allowing all parties access to it.

The beta test follows a year of design and a trial with a major foreign exchange player and it’s expected that the peer-to-peer network will go live in 2017.

Currently, forging exchange is resource-intensive with the continuous need to reconciliation multiple systems and multiple trade records created for buyers, sellers, brokers, clearers and third parties.

The banks taking part in the beta trail are unnamed, but the company says they include several of the 10 biggest banks that dominate the global currencies market which is worth as much as $5tn a day.

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