Decentralized worldwide payment protocol Stellar has announced it is partnering with IBM and KlickEx to develop a blockchain-based cross-border payments solution proven to reduce transaction costs and increase transaction speeds.

The Stellar network, which will serve as the backbone of the new solution, enables frictionless, scalable, and virtually-free cross-border payment transactions, and has been proven to be able to securely process over 1,000 transactions per second with a billion unique user accounts.

Having grown up in Oceania, Robert Bell, founder of KlickEx Group, has first-hand experience with the frustrations and inefficiencies of sending payments through underdeveloped payment corridors. He built KlickEx to meet critical remittance and foreign exchange needs in the region. Now, he sees promise in Stellar’s blockchain technology to transform the remittance business by dramatically improving the cost and speed of transaction clearing, settlement, and compliance.

This cross-border payments solution is already processing live transactions in 12 currency corridors across the Pacific Islands and Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. IBM has convened an initial group of diverse banking leaders as part of the development and deployment process, including Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Bank Danamon Indonesia, Bank Mandiri, Bank Negara Indonesia, Bank Permata, Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Kasikornbank Thailand, Mizuho Financial Group, National Australia Bank, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) Philippines, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, TD Bank, Wizdraw (HK) of WorldCom Finance, and other financial institutions.

Jed McCaleb, CTO, and co-founder of Stellar said:

“This new innovation and collaboration represents a significant milestone for Stellar as well as the financial technology industry as a whole. For the first time, public blockchain technology is being used in production to facilitate cross-border payments in multiple integrated currency corridors. Currently, cross-border payments take up to several days to clear.” “This new implementation is poised to affect a profound change in the South Pacific region, and once fully scaled by IBM and its banking partners, could potentially change the way money is moved around the world, helping to improve existing international transactions and advancing financial inclusion in developing nations.”