Nasdaq and Citi team up for blockchain-powered payments reconciliation
Adena Friedman, CEO, Nasdaq
Nasdaq and Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) have unveiled a new payment solution for automating reconciliation using Chain’s blockchain infrastructure platform.
The solution enables straight through payment processing by using a distributed ledger to record and transmit payment instructions. A number of payment transactions have been done including Citi’s automated processing of cross-border payments via a link between the CitiConnect for Blockchain connectivity platform and the Linq Platform powered by the Nasdaq Financial Framework.
Adena Friedman, CEO, Nasdaq, says this deal “can have profound implications for outdated administrative functions in the capital markets” and they will continue to work together to “scale this offering”.
Both companies state this opens up opportunities for real-time digital solutions – for example, this integration can allow businesses such as Nasdaq Private Market to “address the challenges of liquidity in private securities by streamlining payment transactions between multiple parties”.
The duo add that the solution follows on from their founding membership of the IDEO CoLab in June 2015 to explore emerging technologies such as blockchain. In September of that year, both Nasdaq and Citi Ventures invested in Chain’s series B funding round with other financial institutions.
