Banco Bilbao Banks with Blockchain

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November 28, 2017

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, a Spanish bank, announced that it has successfully completed the first international import-export transaction utilizing blockchain technology. The transaction represents a massive technological leap forward for the international trade financing industry, which has hitherto relied upon bills of lading and letters of credit to validate international shipments.

Blockchain, or distributed ledger technology (DLT), distributes transaction-related records through a shared, secured network. Because all involved parties have simultaneous access to financial data, they can review and certify documentation as they receive it, rather than contending with significant delays. Moreover, since the exchange is conducted entirely in DLT, currency exchange becomes entirely unnecessary.

Banco Bilbao’s test transaction, which took place between a Spanish importer and a Mexican fishing company, was completed in two and a half hours. Normally, this sort of transaction would take a week or more.

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