Wells Fargo, HSBC to Settle Forex Transactions Using Blockchain

Parikshit Mishra, Ian Allison
Updated ·1 min read

Wells Fargo and HSBC Bank said on Monday they will use a blockchain-based product for settling matched foreign exchange transactions.

  • The two banking giants agreed to use a shared settlement ledger to process U.S. dollar, Canadian dollar, British pound and euro transactions, with plans to expand the process to other currencies in the future.

  • The banks’ blockchain-based settlement system uses HSBC proprietary technology built on Baton Systems “blockchain inspired” CORE distributed ledger technology, an HSBC spokesman told CoinDesk.

  • The announcement comes as other major Wall Street banks, such as Goldman Sachs, are reportedly looking to integrate blockchain technology into their regular processes.

  • JPMorgan is also looking to hire software engineers to focus on “Collateral Blockchain Tokenization,” and is beefing up its Onyx division, which was created to oversee the development of JPM coin, the bank’s wholesale payments token.

UPDATE (Dec. 13, 13:30 UTC): Adds additional comment from HSBC in second bullet.

Read more: Goldman Sachs, Other Wall Street Banks Exploring Bitcoin-Backed Loans: Sources