Banks Are Trying to Launch Crypto Assets with R3 Blockchain Tech

It may have seemed unthinkable four years ago, but crypto tokens might be coming to R3's Corda.

Cordite promises to do for enterprise blockchains what the ERC-20 standard did for ethereum: allow the creation of different tokens representing various kinds of assets on the same network.

So whereas ERC-20s unleashed the initial coin offering boom, enabling startups across the globe to bypass the usual fundraising hurdles and raise billions from the public by creating exotic new tokens, Cordite will allow digital representation of mryiad assets traditionally held and traded by highly regulated institutions.

Rather, Cordite is being positioned as an answer to a range of challenges facing the developers of distributed ledger technology inside banks and corporate entities.

Whatever the truth may be about the privately held firm's cash position, the emergence of initiatives like Cordite suggests that there's a vibrant open-source community growing around the technology R3 developed.

"I won't name them, but it's the same sort of companies that are members of R3 who are contributing to Cordite," he said, adding that the project remained in private alpha mode for the last six months as everyone involved wanted to get the testing right.

"So if NatWest were to issue a token that said we would promise to pay the bearer - a promissory note - I'm pretty sure that most of our customers and clients would find that very useful; it's analogous to an ATM, a digital cash machine," said Crook.

The equity and debt trading desks of banks could start to look at the issuance of debt or equity in the form of digital assets.

One more use case for Cordite tokens that RBS and NatWest are interested in exploring is the concept of what Crook called digital mutuals.

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