The National Australia Bank (NAB) announced on March 14 that it had made the first cross-border stablecoin transfer on a public Layer 1 blockchain. The intrabank transfer used the bank’s AUDN stablecoin, which is fully backed and pegged to the Australian dollar (AUD). The intrabank transfer used the bank’s AUDN stablecoin, which is fully backed and pegged to the Australian dollar (AUD).
The transaction took place on the Ethereum blockchain and used smart contracts for seven currencies, according to a statement published by the bank. Those currencies were Australian, New Zealand, Singaporean and US dollars, as well as euros, Japanese yen and British pounds, according to a statement published by Fireblocks.
Stablecoins were newly minted as bank liabilities in the ERC-20 standard. NAB partnered with Fireblocks platform and BlockFold professional services consultants on the project. NAB’s Executive Managing Director of Markets, Drew Bradford, commented:
“We believe that some elements of the future of finance will be based on blockchain and we are already witnessing rapid change in the tokenization market. The strict governance frameworks we have in place ensure that we can support the creation of a secure digital financial system. and reliable”.
The pilot demonstrated the technology’s potential to reduce transaction times from days to minutes and was part of NAB’s focus on simplifying international banking protocols, the bank said. He added that he hoped to support corporate and institutional clients transacting in digital assets by the end of the year.
NAB’s stablecoin, the AUDN, deployed for instant cross-border payments. https://t.co/5gCUFm9ptJ
— Blockchain Australia (@BlockchainAUS) March 13, 2023
NAB Stablecoin AUDN Deployed for Instant Cross-Border Payments
NAB is the second major Australian bank to issue an Australian dollar-backed stablecoin. Its AUDN coin was designed with cross-border transfers and carbon credit trading in mind, it announced in January. In February, NAB was included in the list of the nine founding banks of the international carbon credit trading network, Carbonplace.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, c.NAB’s competitor issued the first Australian dollar-pegged stablecoin, A$DC, in March 2022.
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