IBM joins Chamber of Digital Commerce to advance blockchain financial services

IBM has joined the Washington Chamber of Digital Commerce, an association for digital assets and blockchain trading, as a member of its executive committee.

The chamber engages with policymakers and regulators to promote innovation and investment in blockchain. Blockchain is a permissioned distributed database based on the Bitcoin protocol that maintains a continuously growing record of data that is secure and tamper-proof, even to the operator. The most widely known blockchain application is the public ledger of Bitcoin transactions.

IBM has made a lot of investments in blockchain, with Big Blue launching financial services, government and healthcare blockchain services. IBM is also an investor in blockchain startup Digital Asset Holdings and a member of the Linux Foundation Hyperledger Project. IBM has sent 44,000 lines of code to help developers more easily build secure distributed ledgers for exchanging anything of value.

Perianne Boring, Founder and Chair of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, said:

“By joining the Chamber of Digital Commerce as a member of the Executive Committee, IBM is demonstrating a strong sense of engagement to engage with policymakers and educate them about new technologies.”

Berlin said the chamber represents top innovators, operators and investors in the digital asset and blockchain ecosystem, including startups, software companies, global IT consultancies, financial institutions and investment firms.

Other Chamber of Digital Commerce executive committee members include Microsoft, USAA, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Bloq and Symbiont (smart contract platform).

Jerry Cuomo, vice president of IBM blockchain technology, said in a statement:

“From an international competition perspective, it is critical that American companies and government agencies lead the world in understanding the potential of blockchain technology and applying it to real life. Government involvement brings many benefits to the promotion of blockchain technology, and we are very pleased to join the Chamber of Digital Commerce and provide corresponding support to policymakers.”

In May, ahead of the President's Commission on Enhancing National Cyber ​​Security, IBM's Chuwmo tested blockchain's potential as the technological basis for conducting transactions on the Internet.

Chuwomo told the committee that he believed blockchain could bring a "structural shift" to the protection of the financial system and that governments, technology companies and industry firms should work together to promote the development of blockchain technology to protect national security.

Chuwomo said in a statement:

“Blockchain has unlimited potential to help transform business models and revolutionize society, which is in stark contrast to the wait-and-see approach that many companies and government leaders have taken in the past. We advocate for prudent caution, but at the same time, we believe that if organizations and institutions do not quickly evaluate the potential of blockchain technology and experiment quickly, they risk falling behind the world in the midst of a tectonic shift.”

Meanwhile, last week IBM opened a new Bluemix Garage in New York, focusing on blockchain, financial services and Internet finance innovation. Last month, Mizuho Financial Group and IBM announced a collaboration to test the potential of blockchain digital currency settlement applications. The pilot project used open source code contributed by IBM to the Hyperledger project.

Masahiko Katou, chief technology officer of Mizuho Financial Group, said in a statement:

“In the era of technological transformation, Mizuho Financial Group is testing blockchain, Watson AI programs and other technologies to provide users with high-quality and efficient customer service. Mizuho is working with IBM Bluemix Garage, which provides IBM blockchain services to Mizuho, ​​including blockchain application development on the Bluemix cloud service platform.”

Last week, IBM and Credit Mutuel Arkea, a French bank that provides access and insurance services, announced the completion of a blockchain project that aims to improve how banks verify consumer identities to comply with know-your-customer (KYC) requirements.

Frederic Laurent, Chief Operating Officer of Innovation and Operations at Credit Mutuel Arkea, said in the statement:

“Blockchain is a game-changer for our operational applications and this is the first time in France that this pilot project will make complete consumer information available in a distributed network.”

Lauren said the project can help them better understand blockchain technology, and they are ready to incorporate blockchain into their ecosystem.