DBS has unveiled a blockchain-powered system that makes use of smart contracts to expedite the distribution of government funds.
A report from the local media claims that DBS, in association with Enterprise Singapore and the Singapore Fintech Association, successfully completed the trial.
Twenty-seven regional fintech businesses participated in the trial program, and the SFA awarded funding to them utilizing a permissioned blockchain that DBS created.
Permissioned blockchains limit who is able to join the network, making them somewhat decentralized. Permissioned blockchains also demand preapproval for participation, in contrast to public blockchains.
The ESG and the SFA can establish the terms for grant programs and make sure that only beneficiaries who have been accepted receive the awards thanks to DBS’s permissioned blockchain.
Smart contracts validate these preset criteria, and when they are satisfied, grants are immediately awarded.
DBS notes that, as a result, the solution lessens the requirement for manual involvement and enables beneficiaries to get cash payouts considerably more quickly.
According to DBS, the purpose of the pilot project was to demonstrate how these programmable grants might increase the efficiency and transparency of grant distributions.
Han Kwee Juan, country head of DBS Singapore, expects the new solution to be “extended to more use cases, including milestone-based project payments, consumer rewards, and more.”
As part of Project Orchid, DBS also intends to investigate additional uses for the solution with more government organizations.
The multi-year digital currency effort was started by the Monetary Authority of Singapore last year to investigate different applications of digital money.
DBS Pioneering Blockchain Innovation
DBS recently started a blockchain-based trial project with Ant International to improve cross-border treasury and liquidity management, among other things.
Ant International, the firm that created the Alipay+ mobile payment service, uses the DBS Treasury Tokens initiative to support its multi-currency treasury operations by utilizing DBS’s permissioned blockchain.
In addition to its tokenization initiatives, DBS is making headway in cryptocurrency. The bank joined the New York-based stablecoin issuer Paxos as a custodial partner in July.
DBS extended its offerings in February to include cryptocurrency solutions for its Hong Kong clientele.
