Ant Group launches blockchain based-platform to help SMEs with cross-border trade
- Banks have long-touted blockchain as a means of improving the efficiency and security of cross-border trade and finance
Ant Group, China’s largest digital payments provider by volume, has launched a blockchain-backed smart contract platform for cross-border trade by small and medium enterprises (SMEs), helping them and banks to speed up the secure processing and settlement of orders.
Ant, the operator of mobile payments app Alipay, launched Trusple at the INCLUSION Fintech Conference in Shanghai on Friday.
“Just like when Alipay was introduced in 2004 as the online escrow payment solution to build trust between buyers and sellers, with the launch of AntChain-powered Trusple, 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,” said Jiang Guofei, president of the advanced technology business group of Ant.
Blockchain is a distributed database where every participant shares and synchronises information. The data, maintained in chained records called “blocks”, is not owned by any single authority. The decentralised design enables it to be transparent and tamper-resistant. Modifications by one party need to be verified by all others.
Banks have long-touted blockchain as a means of improving the efficiency and security of cross-border trade and finance, by reducing the expense and time around processing and settlement, expediting customs procedures, improving supply chain management and helping with the detection of illicit trade flows.
Trusple leverages technologies including AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), and secure computation to help with some of these problems. It is an open platform, and companies can sign up for it on the official website.