National Australia Bank concludes cross-border trade using Ethereum Blockchain-based Stablecoin

National Australia Bank (NAB) set a record as the first notable lender to conduct a cross-border trade between banks via its own NAB-based stablecoin on a public blockchain. NAB conducted the test trade on the Ethereum blockchain using smart contracts for seven of the world’s major currencies. The agreement demonstrates the opportunity to significantly reduce the duration and cost of international transactions, which will benefit corporate and institutional clients of NAB who conduct business across multiple jurisdictions and currencies.

NAB’s managing director of financial markets, Drew Bradford, said the bank is investing in creating Australia’s most trusted, simple and secure digital asset environment. Bradford stated, “We are dedicated to exploring digital asset prospects with unequivocal customer benefits.” We believe that blockchain technology will facilitate aspects of the foreseeable future of finance, and the tokenization industry is already undergoing accelerated transformation. We are able to promote the development of a secure and reliable digital banking system because we have strict regulatory mechanisms.”

NAB will fully back its Australian stablecoin, AUDN, with the Australian dollar and manage it as a bank liability, making it the foundation of NAB’s digital asset ambitions. Furthermore, by the end of this year, it intends to help select customers with digital asset transactions. NAB partnered with Blockfold and Fireblocks to develop and launch their stablecoins on the Ethereum blockchain. This required leveraging their skills in developing smart contracts, creating and destroying stablecoins, and storing digital assets on the blockchain.

Michael Shaulov, CEO and co-founder, stated: “NAB’s effective trade completion marks the start of the transformation of the financial industry from Web2 to Web3, which is supported by blockchain technology and robust supervision and risk management.” While CEO and co-founder of BlockFold, Francois Schonken, stated that “NAB’s successful implementation of multi-currency cross-border settlement on a public blockchain is exciting. The NAB stablecoin network establishes cross-border payment channels that unlock tokenization prospects for both physical assets and financial goods .”

NAB’s aim is to facilitate deals in seven of the most widely used currencies in the world, including the Australian, New Zealand, Singapore and US dollars, the euro, the yen and the pound sterling.