Mastercard and R3 To Develop a Platform for Cross-border Payments on Blockchain
The payment giant Mastercard is developing a blockchain-based cross-border payment platform in partnership with R3. On Wednesday, the company said it had signed an agreement to develop and pilot launch a payment solution. Initially, it will be aimed at connecting faster payment schemes and banks with the support of the Mastercard clearing and settlement network.
The platform will be built on Corda Enterprise, which is different from the open source Corda Network. As part of the partnership, it is planned to combine the experience of R3 in developing blockchain solutions with existing payment systems and the Mastercard network. Firms hope that the new platform will help solve industry problems such as costly payment processing, liquidity management and the lack of standardization and connectivity between banks and domestic clearing systems.
R3 CEO David E. RUTTER said:
“All institutions – large or small – rely on the ability to send and receive payments, but all too often the technology they rely upon is cumbersome and expensive. Cross-border payments can be a particular pain point. Corda was designed specifically for enterprise use cases such as this, and we look forward to supporting Mastercard in bringing blockchain-enabled payments businesses across the globe.”