B2B Payments, With Tokens And Smarts

Earlier this month, Smart Token Chain, which provides blockchain-based solutions, said it had conducted its first transaction across the Ripple Network. The use of the tokens can boost security and immutable transaction tracking across borders and corporate payments.

In an interview with PYMNTS, Smart Token Chain executives, including CEO Tom Meredith and Don Chapman, senior vice president of business development, said that the emergence of Smart Tokens can cut across any asset, such as oil, gas and gold. That can help streamline pricing and payments for commodities that are used across supply chains.

As Meredith noted, blockchain can be seen as “an interconnected system” that can help alleviate some of the complexity of the treasury and trade (in a B2B focus) functions of a firm. Said Chapman, the Smart Token can allow firms to “integrate and disperse funds globally.”

To that end, said the executives, the Smart Token can be used to manage receivables and payment terms tied to those receivables. The tokens themselves cement sender and receiver identities and invoice data. Chapman stated that the invoice data, in a B2B setting, can be used in trade finance, with a specific “money transfer” token in place to help with the dynamics of discounting, for example.

The tokens that exist across corporate credit, he added, can be used to manage accounts receivable and payable. That’s made possible by real-time delivery of funds through the SWIFT ISO 20022 format.

In addition, said the executives, the layers of security tied to the blockchain establish what can be thought of as closed-loop transactions, and the emergence of mobile payments also allows for biometrics, such as fingerprints, to make sure that identities, transactions and the terms of those transactions are all safeguarded.