Swiss banking giant UBS is working on a project which has the potential to put the limelight on the blockchain technology. As per a news report, the project is being termed as the “utility settlement coin.”
For the said project, which is still in the nascent stages, the banking major also aspires to build an alliance around it.
At present, the work on the coin is being undertaken at a Bitcoin lab in London, and the idea is to use this coin for transactions.
What makes the fate of other cryptocurrencies, such as the Bitcoin, also bright is that the technology behind the UBS’ coin will be the same as the Bitcoin, i.e. blockchain.
The ‘proposed’ digital token would be directly linked to the real currencies and will also be connected to the central bank accounts. This would inarguably mean that any institution splurging via this coin would actually be spending what we can say is the ‘real’ money.
The bank, however, does not want to ‘issue’ this digital coin and is looking to work this out with other market participants. The move, it believes, will help it in making the coin sturdy and ready for the market making it more acceptable for a larger industry.
So far the bank has refrained from making any claims about the partners it is looking at for this project, but it did mention that it is partnering with BNY Mellon on separate blockchain projects.
Earlier we had reported that the UBS had announced its decision to research the technology behind the peer-to-peer network Bitcoin in order to explore how blockchain can be used in mainstream financial services. The research lab was opened at Canary Wharf-based fintech accelerator space Level39, which is a major hub for fintech startups in London.
UBS had also said at that time, that apart from studying and experimenting with the blockchain technology, the lab members will strive to develop new disruptive technologies that will bring forth more efficient and cost-effective methods for the financial industry.