Marco Polo Blockchain Built on R3's Corda Sees First Live Trades

The first two real-world transactions have been conducted on Marco Polo, the trade finance blockchain built on R3's Corda platform.

The companies agreed on the order and delivery details through the Marco Polo network, and after the goods were delivered, the shipment information was entered into the system and "Automatically matched with previously agreed data, triggering an irrevocable payment obligation on the part of the buyer's bank," the release said.

The amount of money involved was not disclosed, nor did Marco Polo spell out which firm was the buyer and which was the seller.

Payments and financing were handled by two banks, also German: Commerzbank and Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, both founding members of the Marco Polo consortium.

"The transaction proves that blockchain technology offers our clients a payment undertaking and state-of-the-art financing for trade transactions with both foreign countries and domestically," said Nikolaus Giesbert, a divisional board member for trade finance and cash management at Commerzbank, which has also tested DLT in capital markets.

Marco Polo said the next step will be executing transactions with a direct connection to the customers' enterprise resource planning systems, though it did not give a timeframe for this.

Founded in 2017 by R3 and another blockchain tech firm, TradeIX, the Marco Polo network now lists 13 bank members on its website.

Down the road, the consortium hopes to bring in more banks, as well as transportation and insurance companies, "So that the entire value chain for foreign trade transactions is represented digitally with data," Marco Polo said.

Marco Polo is well behind rival network We.Trade, which already went live last year.

On the other hand, We.Trade has a narrower focus and a nimbler corporate structure than member-controlled, globally minded Marco Polo.