Today Ant Group announced Trusple, a new blockchain platform for international trade that targets SMEs and banks. At launch it has partnered with BNP Paribas, Citi, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, and Standard Chartered. Ant is the company behind Alipay, the largest mobile payment platform in China, which claims to have more than 1.2 billion users globally. The group is currently conducting an IPO which some have predicted could give a $200 billion valuation.
The name Trusple is derived from “Trust Made Simple”. Once a trade is recorded on the platform, smart contracts can automatically update information, including delivery progress. But it also will integrate trade finance, enabling automated bank payments using smart contracts. In the first instance, the banks will provide payment guarantees. Banks are keen on blockchain because it can reduce their risk of granting credit by verifying the buyer’s transaction.
“Trusple was designed to solve problems for SMEs and financial institutions involved in cross-border trading,” said Guofei Jiang, President of Advanced Technology Business Group, Ant Group. “We look forward to making cross-border trading safer, more reliable, and more efficient for buyers and sellers, as well as for the financial institutions that serve them.”
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