IBM Blockchain Payments To Use Stellar In Major Partnership Deal

IBM and payments network KlickEx have announced Stellar as the backbone of its new “cross-border payments solution.”

In what it describes as the first use of public Blockchain technology “being used in production to facilitate cross-border payments in multiple integrated currency corridors,” IBM is already convening a group of big banking partners to further the initiative.

“Currently, cross-border payments take up to several days to clear,” Stellar co-founder Jed McCaleb said in an accompanying blog post.

“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.”

Multi-asset, real-time and cross-border: Payments solution from IBM #blockchain at #Sibos. Panel, demos and booth: https://t.co/WmMNjD8g3b pic.twitter.com/FNaIe80DbW — IBM Blockchain (@IBMBlockchain) October 11, 2017

KlickEx already has an extant payments network operating in Southeast Asia from its base in New Zealand.

Now, a group of “diverse banking leaders” will assist in the”development and deployment process” of the Blockchain-backed solution, which is already in active use, IBM states.

The move sees a significant implementation for Stellar within the global financial framework of legacy institutions, putting it alongside Ripple as one of the principal entities in Blockchain-based institutional settlements.

This caps a year of outreach initiatives, with marketing ploys such as a grants program and the release of the Lightyear spin-off hoping to attract wider attention and participation from investors.