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Belgian Blockchain-Platform-as-a-Service Company Sets Foot in the Indian Market

The Indian blockchain sector is ripe for investment based on the rapid growth witnessed to the tune of at least $20 billion as this technology is being deployed in different industries.

As a result, SettleMint, a Belgian blockchain-platform-as-a-service company, has revealed its penetration into the Indian market.

The primary objective of this firm is to make it easier for organizations to generate business solutions via blockchain. Expressly, it has offices in Singapore, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Belgium. Some of SettleMint’s notable clients include Standard Chartered, Carrefour Belgium, tZERO, and Islamic Development Bank, among others.

India as a hotbed of blockchain technology

The CEO of SettleMint, Matthew Van Niekerk, noted that India was one of the forces to reckon with in the blockchain space.

He acknowledged: “We are delighted to begin our journey in India, which is currently a hotbed of blockchain technology activity. Keeping in line with the incredible adoption pace of blockchain technology world over, India as well stands to benefit from blockchain as a key technology to realize Honourable Prime Minister’s vision of becoming a $5 trillion economy.”

He also added: “We have reached delivering a solution rather than hype in the blockchain lifecycle. SettleMint drastically reduces the complexity of blockchain technology, making it easy and fast for the organization to turn a business concept into a working blockchain application from 12-18 months to at most a few weeks.”

According to Blockchain Report 2019 by NASSCOM, many Indian State governments, such as Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala Karnataka, and Telangana, are at the forefront of supporting blockchain projects and startups, as well as organizing hackathons and conferences in this field.

Shazad Fatmi, CEO SettleMint India, stipulated: “We are one of the simplest and fastest blockchain solution providers in the world. Our core technology accelerates the path to leveraging the benefits of blockchain technology: whether those enterprises are looking to improve efficiency, to extend their current products to a new client segment, or to completely reinvent an existing business model.”

As reported by Blockchain.News on Nov 21, following concerns raised by the US Embassy that some employees and students were applying for visas using fake academic certificates, the Indian state of Telangana made a broad move of addressing this menace through blockchain technology.

Image via Shutterstock

China’s Low-Cost National Blockchain Service Network to Launch in April

The Chinese government’s State Information Center revealed its plans for its national Blockchain Service Network (BSN), aiming to provide small businesses and individuals to operate blockchain applications easily without using a private blockchain network.

Tang Sisi, the Deputy Director of the Smart City Development Research Center of the State Information Center said that the BSN will be officially launched for commercial operations in April.

The China Urban Governance and Innovation Forum, led by the State Information Center and jointly initiated by China Mobile, China UnionPay, and other corporations have been taking part in the launch of the BSN. The beta period for the network will be provided to 400 companies and 600 developers for testing for free.

The beta testing period is set to run from October 2019 to March 2020, with Hangzhou being the first city. Hangzhou is the home of the BSN Development Alliance, the city has planned a blockchain pilot for digital identity.

The service aims to lower costs, estimated that hosting a Dapp will only cost RMB 2000-3000 a year, approximately $260 – $390 USD.

Image via Shutterstock

Bank of England Chooses Accenture To Rebuild UK Payment System

The Bank of England, the UK’s central bank will work with Accenture to build and develop a new innovative world-class payment service.

The Bank of England has announced that it has hired Accenture IT consulting firm to overhaul part of the UK’s payment infrastructure, in a contract worth over £150 million ($195 million). This follows a public procurement that started in February 2019.

Driving Payments Transformation

Accenture will renew the RTGS (real-time gross settlement) service to support innovation and resilience in payments and settlements in the UK. The RTGS renewal program include integrating and building the new RTGS platform, improving data access, and offering a service that would support the financial service sector and its customers in the years to come.

The RTGS service is the infrastructure, which holds accounts for various institutions, building societies, and banks delivering final and risk-settlement. The RTGS currently handles £685 billion worth of transactions each day between large financial institutions. The service, therefore, plays a critical role in the UK economy.

The renewed RTGS service is set to be designed to respond to the changing structure of the financial system, ensure resilience in the heart of the service, give access to a wider number of companies, offer improved functionality and wider interoperability, and strengthen end-to-end risk management of Britain’s high-value payment system.

Victoria Cleland, the BoE’s executive director for banking, payment, and innovation, said that the renewal program is the main priority not only for the central bank but also for the wider UK payment industry. She further mentioned that the program would support a resilient financial system, which protects the UK’s monetary and financial stability in the years to come.

The RTGS renewable program is being delivered in multiple transition phases to minimize risks and is expected to begin in 2022 and run until 2025.

The Bank of England Considering to develop CBDC

As part of its commitment to developing a stable, resilient, and diverse payment landscape, the UK’s central bank is reviewing whether it should create a CBDC. Andrew Bailey, BoE governor, recently admitted that a Central Bank Digital Currency would be a reality in the next few years. However, he did not provide a specific time frame of when the discussions are expected to end. The Bank of England is already part of a group of leading central banks that have collaborated to conduct research on developing their digital currencies. While China is leading, nations like the UK and the US are still at the decision stage.