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A Vancouver startup has announced plans to help Visa Inc. run a test to explore whether blockchain technology can make settlements between banks more secure and efficient.

Blockchain Tech Ltd. (BTL) announced Thursday that it will provide the software powering the pilot project with Visa. The two companies plan to invite three to six European banks to use BTL’s distributed ledger technology to exchange money and conduct other business.

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Guy Halford-Thompson, founder and chief executive of BTL, said his company’s technology has many advantages over competitors like R3CEV LLC, which is working with a consortium of banks including Canada’s Big Five to explore the use of blockchain for similar purposes. Using a combination of the Ethereum platform and its own software, Halford-Thompson said BTL addresses two major problems facing blockchain in finance: Privacy and speed.

“Until now, they’ve kind of been mission exclusive. You could either have privacy and scalability or you could have decentralization, you couldn’t have both,” he said. “We’ve managed to connect the two.”