International banking giant Banco Santander has successfully completed a proof of concept (PoC) test for smart-contract payments in partnership with four Spanish banks.
Testing was conducted with the participation of IberPay, which controls the Spanish interbank payments infrastructure. IberPay said the PoC has proven its viability and the blockchain could find real use in making payments.
Along with Banco Santander and IberPay, major Spanish banks Banco Sabadell, BBVA, Bankia and Caixabank participated in the study. Consulting services on the use of the blockchain-based interbank network were provided by the firm Grant Thornton, which previously dealt with the liquidation of the hacked cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia.
During testing, banks made more than 20,000 automated transactions through the blockchain. On average, it took 2.5 seconds to process each payment. Banco Santander said smart contracts have made it much easier to settle transactions between banks when certain conditions are met. PoC has ensured maximum security, efficiency and data integrity, as well as transparent information tracking and compliance.
Banco Santander already has experience in using distributed ledger technology - earlier the bank redeemed bonds for $ 20 million on the Ethereum blockchain. In addition, Banco Santander announced last week that it will unveil One Pay FX, a cross-border payment system developed with Ripple, in 19 more countries.
