Banco Santander has joined UBS, BNY Mellon, Deutsche Bank, market operator ICAP and Clearmatics startup to investigate and promote the use of digital money between financial institutions and central banks in the project dubbed 'Utility Settlement Coin' (USC).
As reported by the company, this system aims to facilitate payments and settlements "efficiently, quickly and safely." The precise entity that "innovative" of this project is the use of technology in which blockchain criptomonedas are based as bitcoin "to present and allow transactionality of real assets such as euros or dollars."
Thus, USC would be a 'coin' which exists in a distributed accounting, that is, in a blockchain. "This accounting record is shared by a large number of financial institutions, which is why it is so safe and digitally represents money backed by a real asset," said Santander.
Thus, a USC is convertible at parity with corresponding currency deposit, ie, that can be exchanged between entities. USC would spend just to spend money equivalent in the real world.
Responsible for Research and Development Blockchain in Santander, Julio Faura, he said that the USC is "a key step" toward the future financial market with technology accounting distributed, taking into account the enormous potential.
Structure
Santander has revealed that the project managers are already in contact with central banks and regulators to ensure that USC is thrown into a structure that meet all regulatory requirements and it is "solid and efficient".
"The digital money will be key in the future of financial markets and will be based on the blockchain, a technology that could revolutionize banking in the coming years. USC already has plans to test the market," notes the organization.
UBS and Clearmatics launched the USC concept in September 2015 to investigate the potential benefits to gain efficiency, improve settlement and reduce systemic risk in global financial markets.