Another Blockchain Consortium Forms For Small Business Lending

Yet another blockchain consortium has formed, this one with a focus on small business lending.

An announcement Tuesday (July 11) said a Paris-based group of financial players, including BNP Paribas and Societe Generale, has launch Liquidshare, a venture aimed at exploring distributed ledger technology and its potential to disrupt small business lending.

CASEIS, Caisse des Depots, Euroclear, Euronext and S2iEM are also part of the initiative, while Paris Europlace is reportedly providing support, and its CEO will be Thibaud de Maintenant, formerly of Deutsche Bank.

“With the launch of Liquidshare, we will use the great potential of the blockchain technology to become a key player in the post-trade industry,” Thibaud said in a statement. “Supported by shareholders across the European financial market ecosystem, this initiative is the first of its kind.”

He added that the consortium will look at how to use blockchain for real-time settlement, simplifying post-trade operations, securities registers consolidation and other processes.

While it may be the first to focus on how DLT can disrupt small business finance, including exploring ways to ease borrowers’ access to financing, lowering transaction costs and enabling businesses to raise funds – it is not the first blockchain consortium or the first to focus on SME financial services.

Last month, reports said Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale both joined another blockchain consortium, along with HSBC, Natixis, Rabobank and Unicredit. The Digital Trade Chain Consortium is using IBM blockchain technology to examine its use in domestic and cross-border payments for SMEs.

Yet another consortium, announced in January, is taking a look at the use of blockchain in the logistics space. Headed by TKI Dinalog, the Netherlands-based group has 16 members with a goal of using blockchain for logistics, global trade, supply chain financing and more.