Today Hyperledger Foundation, the ecosystem for enterprise-grade blockchain technologies, announced seven new members. They reflect the growing enterprise focus on tokenization, blockchain and central bank digital currency (CBDC). The interest in tokenization is reflected by the addition of Deloitte and Japan Securities Clearing Corporation (JSCC). And the CBDC interest is represented by Norges Bank and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which both become associate members.
Japan Securities Clearing Corporation (JSCC) is the central counterparty clearinghouse for the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) and Japanese commodities. It’s a subsidiary of JPX, which owns the stock exchange and also has blockchain interests.
Earlier this year, the JSCC started using blockchain to settle rubber futures. When the futures mature, the holder gets a ‘delivery order’ (not a warehouse receipt) for the physical rubber. Using blockchain the process is digitized. A token represents the delivery order and is verified digitally by the warehouse operator. The token is then transferred to the buyer online.
“Having embraced both open source software and Hyperledger Besu, JSCC’s successful launch in January 2023 of our first DLT based production solution is a testimony to the great benefits gained from the Hyperledger & Linux Foundation communities,” said Kei Miyazato, Head of IT Innovation department, JSCC.
Turning to Norges Bank, it has participated in multiple CBDC projects. Its own CBDC sandbox has been widely misreported as using public blockchain but used a permissioned version of Hyperledger Besu. It also participated in Project Icebreaker, the first cross border CBDC project for retail CBDCs, collaborating with the central banks of Israel and Sweden.
India’s NPCI operates most of India’s major payment rails, including the famous UPI instant payment system. While the central bank is in charge of the current digital rupee CBDC trials, NPCI has big ambitions to create an Indian Blockchain Platform.
Meanwhile, other new general members include Blocklabs, Toposware and Validation Cloud.
