Swiss banking giant UBS has successfully completed a pilot project for its blockchain-based payment system, UBS Digital Cash, marking a significant step forward in improving the efficiency of cross-border financial transactions. The pilot, which took place with multinational clients and banks, aimed to streamline the transfer of funds, offering a solution that supports domestic payments in Switzerland as well as international payments in currencies such as the US dollar, the Swiss franc, the euro and the Chinese yuan.

According to UBS, the system is designed to improve the speed, transparency and security of cross-border transactions. Andy Kollegger, Head of UBS Institutional & Multinational Banking, highlighted the strategic importance of blockchain-based payment solutions to improve the efficiency of cross-border payments, which are traditionally complex and costly. “UBS Digital Cash aims to enable our clients to make cross-border payments much more efficiently and transparently,” Kollegger said.

The pilot tested intraday liquidity management between UBS subsidiaries and its multinational clients. One of the key features of the system is its ability to provide greater visibility into cash positions, allowing businesses to manage their cash reserves more effectively. With the increased transparency provided by blockchain, users can track their funds in real-time, ensuring more accurate decision-making regarding account balances and liquidity management.

UBS Digital Cash operates on a closed and permissioned blockchain network, allowing only restricted parties to access the network, ensuring the privacy of all parties involved. In this system, smart contracts are applied; these are contracts in which the terms of the agreement are directly incorporated into the code. These contracts provide for payments based on the existence of certain conditions and this aspect eliminates most human intervention in carrying out the transactions.

Swiss company UBS has announced that it will continue to expand and further develop Digital Cash capabilities in the coming months. The move complements the bank’s long-term vision to integrate blockchain across all its financial services to achieve efficiency, cost reduction and effective disclosure in financial services.

While the stock market is still trying to discover the potential of blockchain technology, the presence of UBS Digital Cash shows that blockchain is becoming an increasingly essential tool for reinventing the global payments system, with a particular focus on cross-border payments.

has always been an area of ​​fascination where blockchain has been touted for bringing about changes to literally simplify the processing of global banking and payments and the experiment UBS has just conducted with Digital Cash shows that it can be as practical as promised. .