Spanish banks test blockchain based smart payments

The objective is to enable businesses to schedule automatic payments which could be triggered by a smart contract on the basis of the fulfillment of certain conditions such as the delivery of merchandise. The blockchain-based system would enhance security, efficiency, traceability, and integrity for payments.

“A smart payment is a smart contract that governs a payment instrument and its code contains the rules and conditions for initiating and managing payments on a blockchain network,” Iberpay explains.

As per the details, the PoC, which started in October, has an expected duration of 6 months. The blockchain network has already been implemented and has six managed distributed nodes – five operated by the participating banks and one by Iberpay. Grant Thornton is the technology advisor.

“We are developing a payment instrument in Blockchain that could allow financial institutions to issue regulatoryly viable electronic money. With this new scope, we would put into production a pioneering solution at European level,” said Carol Lago, Senior Manager of Technology and Innovation Consulting at Grant Thornton (as quoted by Ledger Insights).