NEW YORK—Nine of the world's biggest banks, including Goldman Sachs and Barclays, are partnering with New York-based financial tech firm R3 to create a framework for using blockchain technology in the markets, Reuters reported.
The move marks the first time banks have joined to work on a shared way in which the cryptocurrency technology beneath bitcoin can be used in finance.
Cryptocurrency continues to move closer to mainstream financial services. Recently a group of payments industry leaders—including Fiserv—invested in Chain, Inc., a provider of blockchain technology solutions to financial institutions.
The new project, the result of more than a year's worth of consultations between R3, the banks and other members of the financial industry, will be led by R3 CEO David Rutter, formerly CEO of electronic trading at ICAP Electronic Trading, one of the world's largest interdealer brokers.
"We held several roundtables...to deeply consider what the possible implications of the blockchain were, and what it could possibly do to save money, and time, and to create a better paradigm for the world of Wall Street and finance," Rutter told Reuters.
Those that have signed up to the initiative so far are JP Morgan, State Street, UBS, Royal Bank of Scotland, Credit Suisse, BBVA and Commonwealth Bank of Australia.