Earlier this week, Contour trade finance blockchain announced Rio Tinto and China’s Baosteel completed a yuan-based iron ore trade using its platform. It was the first blockchain-based letter of credit transaction on the platform for DBS Bank after it joined Contour on Monday. The Chinese government is encouraging trade to be denominated in the yuan / renminbi rather than the U.S. dollar and Baosteel is state-owned.
Contour, previously known as Voltron or Letter of Credit (LoC) blockchain, was launched earlier this year in Singapore. The iron ore trade involved other partners of Contour, namely Standard Chartered, Chinsay, and essDOCS. Standard Chartered was the issuing bank while DBS was the advising and nominated bank for the deal.
Contour is digitizing the letter of credit process, which traditionally requires significant paperwork. Generally, documents are couriered separate to the shipment, which is slow and increases the risk of loss and fraud. Contour enables trade participants to digitally share trade documents such as the bill of lading, and supporting papers.
Article continues …
Want the full story? Pro subscribers get complete articles, exclusive industry analysis, and early access to legislative updates that keep you ahead of the competition. Join the professionals who are choosing deeper insights over surface level news.
