The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has announced that Phase 5 of Project Ubin has successfully concluded, and the resulted Blockchain-based multi-currency payment network is ready for commercial deployment. The MAS has also released a report providing insights into this prototype.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the central bank of the country, announced the news in a press release published on Monday, July 13. The MAS’ payment network uses JPMorgan’s Quorum blockchain protocol as the base infrastructure.
The MAS started Project Ubin in 2016 to explore the use of blockchain technology in clearing and settlement of payments and securities. As Crypto Economy reported, in November 2019, MAS announced the development of a blockchain-based prototype that enables cross-border payment to be carried out in different currencies on the same network as part of Phase 5 of Project Ubin.
Phase 5 of the project was sought to determine the commercial viability and value of the blockchain-based payments network. Now all the experimentation is over, the next leap will be in implementing live commercial solutions to solve real-world challenges.
Mr. Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer of MAS, commented:
“As with all innovation adoption, there is a time for experimentation and a time for commercialization. Project Ubin has worked with the financial industry and blockchain community on a journey of experimentation, prototyping, and learning. This has built a strong foundation of knowledge, expertise, and experience, and paved a path towards commercial adoption. Following the successful experimentation over five phases, we look forward to greater adoption and live deployment of blockchain technology.”
The MAS and Temasek have also released a report, which was commissioned to Accenture to publish, titled “PROJECT UBIN PHASE 5: Enabling Broad Ecosystem Opportunities,” that provides technical insights to this payment network prototype. The report examines several use cases across four categories that include capital markets, trade and supply chain finance, insurance, and beyond financial services.
According to the report, the prototype was indeed able to settle payments in different currencies on the same network. This prototype can be used to model an international settlement network that could allow for faster and cheaper cross-border transactions than the existing systems.
The MAS said:
“Project Ubin Phase 5 validated the use of smart contracts on the payments network prototype in use cases such as Delivery-versus-Payment (DvP) settlement with assets on private exchanges, conditional payments, and escrow for trade, as well as payment commitments for trade finance.”
The network prototype has been built in collaboration with J.P. Morgan and Temasek, a state-owned investment firm. The network leverages JP Morgan’s Quorum blockchain protocol at its core, JPM coin, and its Interbank Information Network (IIN).
Mr. Umar Farooq, Managing Director and Head of Blockchain at J.P. Morgan, said:
“J.P. Morgan is a leader in building commercial solutions using blockchain technology. We have been an active contributor to Project Ubin since its inception, leveraging our learnings and infrastructure including Quorum®, Interbank Information Network® (IIN), and JPM Coin. Phase 5 has demonstrated how broadly blockchain technology can impact the future of business and we look forward to working with MAS, Temasek, and other banks to develop and scale commercial solutions for the industry.”
RippleNet has already been proving what blockchain technology can bring to cross-border and remittance payments, but what Project Ubin brings to this space, only time will tell.
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