BankChain is a blockchain-based platform for exploring, building, and implementing blockchain solutions. Based on blockchain technology, BankChain promises to bring transparency, efficiency, and security to the banking industry.
Bankchain is also a community of banks that are exploring and building blockchain-based applications.
Bankchain was in the news after State Bank of India (SBI), the largest bank of India, announced that it is building blockchain-based applications and expanding its initiative, BankChain. SBI plans to roll out its beta launches of smart contracts and know your customer (KYC) solutions in the coming month.
Currently, there are 27 members from India and the Middle East. Besides major banks in India, Intel and Microsoft are technology partners in the project. While Intel is a technology advisor, Microsoft is a cloud partner and has provided its Azure platform to host the BankChain projects.
BankChain is not just one project but a consortium that will continue to explore and build new projects and solutions. Some of the key active projects include:
- Secure documents
- Peer-to-peer payments
- Asset / Charge registry
- Syndication of loans
- Blockchain Security Controls
- Know Your Customer
- Cross-border payments
- Virtual currencies
- Blockchain Libraries
- Trade finance
So why does that matter?
One of the key goals of using BankChain for financial transactions is to reduce fraud and bring transparency and traceability to the banking industry.