Enterprise IT major IBM today announced its blockchain technology contract with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU).
BTMU will utilize blockchain technology to examine the design, management and execution of contracts among business partners.
IBM and MTMU will start the innovative project by piloting blockchain to automate business transactions between the two companies.
This is one of the first projects built on the Hyperledger Project fabric, an open-source blockchain platform, to use blockchain for real-life contract management on the IBM Cloud.
IBM and BTMU built a prototype of smart contracts on a blockchain to improve the efficiency and accountability of service level agreements in multi-party business interactions. The bank plans to begin using it to manage contracts within their business in fiscal year 2017.
IBM and BTMU aim to manage agreements between the two companies with the system by the end of fiscal year 2017. IBM and BTMU will monitor delivery and usage of equipment with a sensor that embeds information into the blockchain. This will then automate invoicing and payment processes between the two companies.
“We are pleased with the outcome of the first blockchain proof of concept working with IBM Research and IBM Global Business Services and we look forward to seeing these blockchain applications come to fruition,” said Motoi Mitsuishi, deputy chief executive officer of BTMU Asia & Oceania.
Recently, IBM launched the IBM Center for Blockchain Innovation — at the Watson Centre at the Marina Bay — in Singapore in partnership with the Singapore Economic Development Board and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
IBM is trying to tap industry verticals such as financial services, supply chains, IoT, risk management, digital rights management and healthcare for selling its blockchain technology.
