- Open Financial Technologies has been given the green light by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to launch a cross-border payments platform using blockchain.
- The neo-banking company is one of four firms in India to get approval for blockchain solutions for cross-border payments.
- The bank believes that blockchain can become a core part of banking payments and reduce stress on importers and exporters.
Open Financial Technologies has announced plans to launch a blockchain-based cross-border payment platform after being given the green light by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The neo-banking company’s CEO Anish Achuthan said that it will first focus on providing international money transfer options between the US and India before expanding to other markets and services.
Achuthan believes that the inherent transparency of blockchain will help to improve the safety and security of transactions.
He noted: “When the payment is happening there is also a ledger that records where the payment is at every point in time. So, immutability is brought into the whole transaction, whereby no transaction is ever lost from the system.”
Open Financial Technologies is one of four fintech companies in India that have been approved by the RBI to leverage cutting-edge blockchain for cross-border payments.
It now has ambitious plans to increase the scale of its operations in India where it hopes to “offer a suite of products for cross-border payments and trade finance”.
To achieve that goal, Open Financial Technologies will work with other banks in the country via open-source initiatives.
The new services could benefit both personal users making international payments and small-and-medium enterprises looking to use financial instruments to facilitate trade and commerce.
The latest news is exciting for the Indian fintech industry as the RBI moves a step closer to using blockchain to support cross-border payments.
The government reportedly believes that the new system will ease the flow of trade and aid importers and exporters amid a dollar crunch.
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