Swiss Post and Swisscom will take advantage of their trusted reputation in Switzerland to create a blockchain platform for use by themselves and others that will be based on Hyperledger Fabric2.
Swiss Post is publicly owned and the country’s second largest employer. It already uses blockchain technology to record temperature data while transporting pharmaceuticals in the national postal network. It is also running an energy provision and billing pilot for power generating landlords to accurately charge their tenants in collaboration with Energie Wasser Bern.
Swisscom is 51% publicly owned and a major telecommunications provider in Switzerland. It’s working on a blockchain platform, alongside law firm MME, for securely issuing and transferring shares called “C-Share.”
The announcement read:
“Swiss Post and Swisscom are connecting their existing private infrastructures for blockchain applications. On the basis of distributed ledger technology, the two instances check each other and thus help to establish trust.”
It goes on to confirm the new blockchain platform will be used for their own blockchain-based applications, and be made available to other companies.
The development will be a private blockchain infrastructure, limited to its own blockchain users and hence, says the release, requiring less power than other public blockchains.
Blockchain Data will Remain in Switzerland
Explaining that Swiss Post and Swisscom are “known for their reliable handling of sensitive information,” the release also confirms that data on their blockchain platform will stay solely in Switzerland and meet the “high security” requirements of banks.
“Swiss Post and Swisscom are thus creating attractive advantages for companies in all sectors and therefore also for Switzerland as a business location,” an excerpt from the press release added.
The pair plan to launch the first pilot applications on the new blockchain platform in the second-quarter of 2019, and will focus on working with companies and public authorities in the country as well as being open to other key partners for the project.
A National Blockchain?
Considering the public ownership of both companies, the development could almost be termed a national blockchain platform provision, and thus potentially a first for blockchain.
It’s no surprise this kind of progression emerges from Switzerland, both a financial innovator in its own right and a proven supporter of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
The credibility of the two companies in Switzerland may attract interest in the platform and further accelerate blockchain adoption in the European Union (EU) country.
The Swiss exchange SIX has created its own cryptocurrency and exchange and approved the first listing of a cryptocurrency-based exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Swiss government is still investigating the possibility of its own digital currency the “e-franc.” And, one of the first cryptocurrency hubs in the world, the city of Zug, was one of the first to trial blockchain-based e-voting.
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