SWIFT Eyes gpi Payments Across Blockchain

In the continuing move to bring data (and transactional data) to blockchain, among the latest examples is the announcement this week that the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) will enable blockchain-focused companies to use its global payments innovation (GPI) platform, as reported in Cointelegraph.

SWIFT said it will allow gpi payments over DLT platforms, in an effort to help save money as trades are reconciled. The news comes in the wake of a proof of concept focused on linking trade and eCommerce platforms with gpi, in collaboration with R3’s Corda platform. As the report noted, SWIFT previously had a blockchain-based shareholder e-voting proof of concept in place with financial services firms such as Deutsche Bank and HSBC.

SWIFT’s gpi exists as businesses seek to boost speed and transparency of payments. More than half of SWIFT cross-border transactions are made across gpi, a tally in the tens of trillions of dollars.

Tracking Food, Too

Blockchain, of course, is being used to track any number of goods – especially the perishable kind. To that end, in China, Walmart’s supermarket operation in the country, Walmart China, said this week it has debuted a blockchain-based platform to provide transparency of food safety and sourcing.

The initiative – which comes through joint efforts between Walmart, PwC and the blockchain project known as VeChain – is known as the Walmart China Blockchain Traceability Platform, where roughly two dozen product lines have been tested. There will be another 10 added, with product categories spanning meat and rice, among others.

The companies said that Walmart China expects to track as much as 50 percent of its meat sales across the platform. That same tracking will extend to 40 percent of vegetable sales and 12.5 percent of seafood sales. As reported, the mechanics are such that Walmart China customers can access provenance of goods, as well as the geographic location.

As detailed in the release of the announcement, Elton Yeung, strategy and innovation lead at PwC Mainland China and Hong Kong, said that “we believe Walmart’s Blockchain Traceability System will be an excellent example of blockchain technology applied in the retail industry, helping to improve food safety and quality management, and providing a strong guarantee for building consumer trust.” Separately, Walmart is tied to another blockchain project, this time with IBM, in creating Food Trust, a permissioned platform to track food items.

Separately, in a country-wide, blockchain-based initiative focused on real estate, Joseph Muscat, the prime minister, announced this past week that all rental contracts would be registered across blockchains. As reported on CoinDesk, the announcement came as the minister was interviewed by Radio One. That move to embrace blockchain had been approved by the cabinet.

“We will now be showing people the added value of this technology through applying it to something they will use in their daily lives,” Muscat said. “This shows how the digital transformation will affect their lives.”