Altcoin News: UBS, Nasdaq, and BNY Mellon Are Preparing to Launch a Token for Cross-Border Transactions

June 4, 2019, by Marko Vidrih on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE

The group of companies led by UBS, the largest Swiss financial holding company, uses a “bitcoin-like token” to settle cross-border transactions, writes The Wall Street Journal on Monday, calling this initiative one of the largest in the blockchain sector by date.

In addition to UBS, 14 major US, European and Japanese financial companies participate in the initiative, including Barclays, Nasdaq, Credit Suisse, BNY Mellon, CIBC, State Street, Banco Santander, Commerzbank, and ING. Together they founded a company called Fnality International and invested £50 million in the development of the USC token. To secure USC, foreign exchange assets owned by the bank that are located in central banks will be used.

Work on the USC has been underway for four years. The token will function as a payment mechanism and a means of transmitting related information about transactions, which will reduce the time and cost involved in making payments.

“We eliminate settlement risk, counterparty risk, market risk. All of these risks lead to increased costs and make the market less efficient,” said Hyders Jaffrey, head of strategic investments at UBS.

Rhom Ram, head of Fnality, explained that his company is working with regulators in several countries to obtain the necessary approvals. He expects the tool to gain full functionality in the next 12 months.

A year ago, UBS chairman Axel Weber announced that the financial holding does not intend to provide its customers with access to cryptocurrency services.

Author: Marko Vidrih