POSCO Partners with Dunamu and Hana Financial to Launch Blockchain Payment Platform
Upbit's parent company Dunamu, along with Hana Financial and POSCO International, have successfully launched a blockchain-powered remittance platform using actual trade operations in South Korea.
A trilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been executed between South Korea's Hana Financial Group, POSCO International, and Dunamu—the company operating the Upbit cryptocurrency exchange—to deploy their blockchain-powered remittance platform, with POSCO International acting as the inaugural real-world implementation partner.
The MoU was executed on Tuesday at the Seoul-based headquarters of Hana Financial Group, coming on the heels of a proof-of-concept (PoC) that Hana and Dunamu successfully concluded earlier in the current year. This pilot program demonstrated that blockchain technology could significantly decrease both settlement timeframes and associated expenses when compared to the conventional SWIFT infrastructure. The PoC utilized Dunamu's proprietary blockchain platform, GIWA Chain, to supplant SWIFT's traditional messaging system for international money transfers.
According to a Wednesday statement from the company, the newly signed MoU enables the platform to undergo testing with genuine trade transactions for the first time, with POSCO International responsible for executing the actual movement of funds.
Conventional international payment systems rely on SWIFT, which separates the payment instruction transmission from the actual transfer of funds into two distinct phases, creating delays and increasing operational expenses. By contrast, the blockchain-powered platform merges both functions into a unified real-time operation, resulting in quicker and more economical transfers.
Dunamu's GIWA Chain to power blockchain remittance system
According to the terms of the agreement, POSCO International's commercial trading division will oversee business implementation utilizing genuine transaction flows, Hana Financial will be responsible for remittance processing, settlement of funds and currency exchange operations, while Dunamu will supply the blockchain technology infrastructure via GIWA Chain and preserve the transaction ledger.
We have established a foundation for mid-to-long-term partnerships with leading domestic companies in the fields of digital finance and digital assets.
Lee Gye-in, president of POSCO International
The three corporate partners have set a target to develop a functional framework for real-time blockchain-based remittances prior to the conclusion of this year.
POSCO International deepens crypto push
This agreement represents an expansion of POSCO International's comprehensive initiative into the digital finance sector. In recent developments, the corporation issued blockchain-powered foreign currency digital bonds valued at roughly 140 billion won (approximately $95 million) in collaboration with HSBC, and in the previous year launched a blockchain-enabled global payment platform in partnership with JP Morgan.
According to previous coverage by Cointelegraph, Kbank, South Korea's internet-only banking institution, has similarly formed a collaboration with Ripple to conduct trials of blockchain-powered cross-border payment services.