Shinhan Bank, SCB TechX, and an unnamed financial institution in Taiwan have announced the successful completion of a stablecoin remittance proof-of-concept (PoC) pilot, according to a release.
The PoC was reportedly built on the Hedera network, a high-performance blockchain.
The pilot was said to have “achieved real-time settlement and real-time foreign exchange (FX) rate integration across the Thai Baht (THB), New Taiwan dollar (NTD), and South Korean won (KRW) in a test environment that aligns to current production capabilities.”
The PoC is EVM-compatible, so any EVM-based stablecoin are able to participate using the framework.
This PoC is “a continuation of Shinhan Bank’s previous work that started in 2021, when they partnered with Standard Bank on stablecoin international remittances (see https://hedera.com/blog/shinhan-bank-to-conduct-stablecoin-international-remittance-poc-on-hedera-network-in-partnership-with-major-multinational-bank).”
The second pilot’s success “marks a significant milestone in the quest for efficient, low-cost, cross-border payments.”
Byunghee Kim, Chief of the Blockchain division at Shinhan Bank, said they are pleased to have completed the PoC, describing it as a step forward in making payments faster and cheaper.
Kim further highlighted the importance of leveraging blockchain technology for cross-border payments, stating:
“Stablecoins offer a low-cost, fast, and reliable way to transfer value across borders, which can help to increase financial inclusion and improve access to financial services for individuals and businesses in underserved communities. With this next phase of PoC, we are pleased to have demonstrated how the use of Hedera’s EVM-compatible technology helps eliminate intermediaries, reduce costs, and speed up the remittance process.”
SCB TechX emphasized the potential of stablecoins to increase financial inclusion, as their CEO, Trirat Suwanprateeb explained.
This announcement marks an important milestone “for the financial industry, as more banks and financial institutions look to explore the potential of blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) to transform the way we conduct cross-border payments.”
As noted in the update, Shinhan Bank says it is “a leading commercial bank in South Korea with KRW 664.4 trillion in assets.”
The company provides “a full range of banking services to its 27 million customers – individual consumers, SMEs and large corporations- with 887 branches including 166 global branches in twenty countries; the company also serves its 15.9 million mobile users with its award-winning app ‘SOL.'”
The company’s financial group ‘Shinhan Financial Group’ is “a diversified holding company with 15 companies including Shinhan Card, Shinhan Investment and Shinhan Life.”