Earlier this year, an IBM top official disclosed details concerning IBM’s new cross-border settlement solution, World Wire and its significant relationship with Stellar (XLM) blockchain.
According to IBM’s Vice President for blockchain solutions, Jesse Lund, the international tech company’s new product allows payments to be transferred to anywhere in the world in a precise and straightforward way.
“users will be able to send transactions from anywhere in the world to any corner of the world. This new operation is supposed to be as simple as sending an email.”
During the IBM Think 2019 Conference that was held in February, the blockchain VP played coy with details while being interviewed with Fred Schebesta’s Daily Exchange keeping the media guessing on the full details of the new partnership between IBM and Stellar Lumens.
“I will be giving a keynote speech at a major event in Singapore with my partner Jeb McCaleb (Stellar founder). We will be talking about our special announcement, the product, and what benefits are installed for all parties.”
The American multifunctional information technology leader IBM announcement of its payment platform based on the Stellar Lumen protocol, also known as IBM Blockchain World Wire, managed to onboard six international banks that were to launch their stablecoins in the platform.
Importance of IBM Blockchain World Wire
In the current world, we live in, cross-border money transfers that include remittances make up a significant percentage of the global economy. According to information published by the World Bank in 2016, migrants across the world transferred about 574 billion US dollars to their loved ones back in their home countries.
Despite these statistics, current global money transfer providers have not put in place adequate measures to satisfy the growing demands of individuals sending their monies back at home. Today, banks and financial institutions still have inefficient processes that involve many go-betweens for both the clearing and settlement of these payment transactions.
At present, transferring money across borders is not only time-consuming but also costly when using established financial institutions and banks. IBM’s Stellar Lumens (XLM)-powered World Wire strives to take advantage of the current situation and make money transfer across borders a seamless process that requires little effort from users charging them a small affordable fee.
What is IBM Blockchain World Wire?
Announced on 18th March, IBM World-Wire is a global platform that strives to regulate financial institutions in clearing and settling cross-border settlements in real time. IBM’s Blockchain General Manager Marie Wieck defined the new platform as:
“We have developed a new type of payment platform that is designed to speed up and transform remittances and cross-border payments to enable the transfer of money in countries that need it the most. By developing a platform that allows financial institutions to support multiple virtual currencies, we expect to spur financial inclusion and innovation globally.”
IBM Blockchain World-Wire is tailor-made for efficient and easy international settlements, remittances, and foreign exchange that automatically integrates payment messaging, clearing and payment of funds on a unified platform.
This platform aims to do away with the function of banking and financial institutions intermediaries to cross-border payment options, thus reducing the cost of transactions and time taken the transaction speed.
The IBM Blockchain World-Wire is developed on Stellar’s open blockchain platform that operates as the backbone of their cross-border payment solution. Stellar’s platform allows World Wire’s cross-border payment facilities to take place in near real-time using virtual currencies as a bridge coinage. At the moment, it is believed that transactions are done on this platform take around 5 to 10 seconds to be completed.
Future of IBM Stellar Partnership after the Departure of IBM’s Vice President for Blockchain Solutions Jesse Lund
The future of this promising project seems to be on limbo following the departure of some of the brains behind the project. Apart from Jesse leaving the company, news sources also disclose that IBM’s Global Lead on central Bank Digital Currency, Stanley Young, is also exiting the stage.
Stanley’s departure from the company represents a big blow to the Stellar partnership raising high concerns that the future of World Wire might have come to an end.
Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.
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