National Australia Bank (NAB) has completed an intra-bank cross-border transaction on a public blockchain, using its own stablecoin, marking a milestone as the first major financial institution to do so.
NAB did the transaction on the Ethereum blockchain, using smart contracts for seven global currencies. The bank’s corporate and institutional clients may benefit from the reduced time and expense of cross-border transactions.
“We are committed to pursuing the right digital asset opportunities with clear customer benefits,” Drew Bradford, NAB’s Executive General Manager of Markets, told The Fintech Times. “We believe that blockchain technology will enable elements of the future of finance, and we’re already witnessing rapid change in the tokenisation market. The stringent governance frameworks we have in place ensures we can support the creation of a safe and reliable digital financial system.”
NAB said that it would back its Australian stablecoin, AUDN, one-for-one with the Australian dollar and manage it as a liability of the bank.
In building and deploying its stablecoins on the Ethereum blockchain, NAB worked with Blockfold and Fireblocks, tapping into their expertise in smart contract creation, secure minting and burning of stablecoin and managing custody of digital assets on the blockchain.
“NAB’s successful trade execution marks the beginning of the evolution of financial services from Web2 to Web3, underpinned by blockchain technology as well as strong governance and risk management,” Chief Executive Office and Co-Founder Michael Shaulov told The Fintech Times.
