全球首笔区块链贸易融资完成，涉及大豆交易

汇丰银行（HSBC）表示，该行已经完成了世界上第一笔运用区块链技术的贸易融资。

具体情况是，汇丰代表美国食品和农业公司嘉吉（Cargill）向金融机构荷兰国际集团（ING）开出了信用证。本次贸易融资所涉交易为从阿根廷向马来西亚出口大豆。

借助区块链技术，该信用证存放在开放的分布式账本上，有权访问这个系统的人都能看到所有的交易。这就使交易双方不再需要核对账目并进行一长串的数字（和纸质）通信了。汇丰和ING称，本次交易已在24小时内完成，而通常情况下，按传统方式进行这样的交易需要5-10天。

汇丰使用了区块链公司R3开发的Corda平台。作为初创公司，R3正在和200多家银行、清算机构、交易所和市场基础设施供应商组成的团体合作，旨在开发基于分布式账本技术的商业应用。

同时，在利用区块链这项迅速发展的技术方面，汇丰并不“孤单”。

西班牙国家银行（Santander）上个月推出了基于分布式账本技术的外币兑换服务，可以进行同日国际货币转账。摩根大通（J.P. Morgan）最近也申请了利用区块链协助银行同业支付的专利。（财富中文网）

译者：Charlie

审稿：夏林

HSBC said it has performed the world’s first trade finance transaction using blockchain technology.

Here’s what happened: HSBC issued a letter of credit for U.S. food and agriculture firm Cargill to Dutch lender ING. The trade finance transaction involved a shipment of soybeans from Argentina to Malaysia.

Using blockchain technology, this letter is stored on an open, distributed ledger where every transaction is visible to anyone with access to the system. This eliminates the need for paper reconciliation and a long chain of digital (and paper) communication between the two parties. HSBC and ING said the exchange was performed in 24 hours, whereas it normally takes five to 10 days for such a transaction to go through traditional methods.

HSBC used the “Corda” platform, which was developed by blockchain company R3. The startup works with a consortium of more than 200 banks, clearing houses, exchanges, and market infrastructure providers to develop commercial applications of distributed ledger technology.

And HSBC isn’t alone in exploring the uses for the burgeoning technology.

Santander last month launched a foreign exchange service that uses the distributed ledger tech to make same-day international money transfers. J.P. Morgan recently applied for a patent to facilitate payments between banks using the blockchain.