Project Ubin shows commercial potential with the completion of its final phase

Steffy Bogdanova
July 14, 2020 9:17 am

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Temasek released a report on fifth and final phase of Project Ubin, “Project Ubin Phase 5: Enabling Broad Ecosystem Opportunities”. The report offers technical observation of the blockchain-based multi-currency payments network prototype and demonstrates how the network could benefit the financial industry and blockchain ecosystem.

The report explores and analyzes the use of blockchain technology in commercial applications across different industries. It also examines how these applications could benefit from integration with the blockchain-based payments network prototype developed.

Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer, MAS, said:

Sopnendu Mohanty, MAS

Sopnendu Mohanty
Source: LinkedIn

As with all innovation adoption, there is a time for experimentation, and a time for commercialisation. 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 report found that the multi-currency payments network prototype developed under the final phase of Project Ubin successfully settled payments in different currencies on the same network. An international settlement network, modeled after this prototype could enable faster and cheaper transactions than traditional cross-border payments channels.

The fifth phase of Project Ubin also justified the use of smart contracts on the payments network prototype in use cases of 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 commercial use of the payments network prototype encompasses cross-border payments in multiple currencies, foreign currency exchange, settlement of foreign currency denominated securities and integration with other blockchain-based platforms to allow end-to-end digitalisation in many industries and use cases.

Chia Song Hwee, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Temasek, said:

Blockchain technology has great potential in transforming businesses and opening up new business opportunities. Phase 5 of Project Ubin has demonstrated the commercial applicability, viability and benefits of blockchain technology across industries, beyond capital markets and trade finance. This validates Temasek’s efforts in exploring and building blockchain solutions focusing on digital identity, digital currencies and financial asset tokenisation. We look forward to supporting commercialisation efforts emanating from Project Ubin and other application areas, with a view to drive greater adoption of blockchain technology.

The payments network prototype was developed in partnership with JP Morgan and Temasek. The prototype can serve as a test network to help and promote collaboration with other central banks and the financial industry for developing next generation cross-border payments infrastructure. The technical specifications for the functionalities and connectivity interfaces are already publicly available.

Lim Teo, Accenture’s country managing director for Singapore, said:

Through Project Ubin, we have identified areas where blockchain-based solutions can be deployed at scale and drive greater payment efficiency across industries. The financial ecosystem is an integral part of Singapore’s ambition to be a Smart Nation. The collaboration between financial and non-financial firms to create the network necessary to support multi-currency payments will also drive new products and services that generate new revenue streams.

Umar Farooq, Managing Director & Head of Blockchain, JP Morgan:

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.

LeapRate Analyst

Experienced writer and journalist, working in the global online trading sector, Steffy is the Editor of LeapRate. She has previous experience as a copywriter and has been with the company since January 2020. Steffy has a British and American Studies degree from St. Kliment Ochridski University in Sofia.
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