Brazilian digital bank Banco Inter has successfully concluded a pilot program for blockchain-based international trade finance. This initiative, conducted in collaboration with Chainlink, the Central Bank of Brazil, and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), demonstrated how distributed ledger technology can streamline cross-border settlement processes.
The experiment was part of Phase 2 of Brazil’s Drex central bank digital currency (CBDC) project. It simulated the settlement of export transactions, connecting Brazil’s Drex network with Hong Kong’s Ensemble platform, a blockchain system developed under the HKMA’s Project Ensemble initiative.
Chainlink was instrumental in providing the interoperability infrastructure that linked these two distinct networks, as reported by Banco Inter.
This is not the first collaboration between Banco Inter and Chainlink; they have previously worked together on an earlier Phase 2 pilot of Brazil’s Drex digital currency project.
Banco Inter stated that the platform, by supporting tokenized payments and automating title transfers through smart contracts, has the potential to reduce costs, mitigate risks, and create new international market opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses.
Trade finance, which encompasses the credit and payment arrangements that facilitate international business transactions for importers and exporters, remains a particularly complex aspect of global commerce. This pilot suggests that blockchain technology could be used to automate these processes, synchronizing the movement of goods, payments, and title transfers.
The financial institution Standard Chartered also participated in this pilot program.
Brazil’s Digital Real Initiative Progresses
Brazil's central bank has intensified its digital currency pilot efforts over the past year. The objective is to develop a synthetic digital real that integrates programmability, privacy, and decentralization.
This initiative is unfolding amidst a significant trend towards digital payments and an increasing adoption of stablecoins within Brazil. In February, Gabriel Galípolo, the President of the Central Bank of Brazil, noted at a conference that approximately 90% of crypto transactions in the country involve stablecoins.
While Drex is often referred to as a central bank digital currency, Galípolo has characterized it as an infrastructure project aimed at enhancing credit access and modernizing Brazil's financial system, according to reports from Reuters.