MasterCard and R3 develop blockchain cross-border payment platform to solve cross-border payment pain points

According to Coindesk's September 12 report, the payment giant MasterCard will work with R3, a blockchain company focused on the enterprise, to develop a cross-border payment platform based on blockchain.

Credit-card-851506_960_720 (Source: pixabay )

MasterCard said in a statement on Wednesday that the two companies have signed an agreement to "develop and try out" blockchain payment solutions. The initial goal of the project was to connect faster payment methods to banks supported by MasterCard's clearing and settlement network.

R3 tells CoinDesk that the platform will be built on the commercial version of the Corda enterprise platform, not on the open source Corda network. The partnership combines R3's expertise in developing blockchain solutions with MasterCard's existing payment systems and networks. The two companies hope that this new platform will help address industry issues such as high cost of payment processing, liquidity management, and lack of standardization and connectivity between banks and domestic clearing systems.

David E. Rutter, CEO of R3, said:

All organizations rely on the ability to send and receive payments, but the technology they use is often cumbersome and expensive, especially for cross-border payments. Corda is designed specifically for this type of enterprise use case, and we look forward to and support MasterCard to bring blockchain payment services worldwide.

MasterCard said that the acquisition of international payment company Transfast in July further expanded its payment network, and the use of Corda will further expand its ability in the payment field.

A few days before the announcement of this partnership, MasterCard joined Marco Polo, a trade finance blockchain network created by R3 and TradeIX.

Peter Klein, executive vice president of MasterCard's new payment platform, said in a statement:

Developing a new, better cross-border B2B payment solution is a core ideal for MasterCard by improving global account-to-account connectivity. Our goal is to provide payment infrastructure globally through our recent strategic acquisitions and partnerships with partners including R3.