- Hong Kong and Shanghai signed an agreement to develop a cross-border blockchain platform aimed at digitising cargo trade and trade finance infrastructure.
- The initiative seeks to link mainland trade data with Hong Kong’s financial systems to facilitate shared electronic bills of lading and automated bank financing.
- Operating under the HKMA’s Project Ensemble, the project targets inefficiencies in a US$1.5 trillion market currently burdened by manual verification and paper documents.
Hong Kong’s monetary authority and Shanghai officials have signed an agreement to study a cross-border blockchain platform for cargo trade and trade finance.
The memorandum, announced Monday in Hong Kong, was signed by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Shanghai Data Bureau, and the National Technology Innovation Center for Blockchain. It covers plans to link mainland trade data with Hong Kong’s financial infrastructure.
The parties will examine building a shared system that connects trade data, electronic bills of lading, and bank financing platforms. An electronic bill of lading is a digital version of a shipping document used to show control over goods in transit.
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We look forward to driving innovative application of digital technology in areas such as cargo trade and finance, promoting joint achievements in digital innovation, exploring a digital infrastructure that links Shanghai and Hong Kong, promoting digitalisation of trade finance, as well as facilitating the integration of cargo and trade data in the Chinese Mainland with the international data ecosystem through Hong Kong.
Deputy Chief Executive of the HKMA Mr Howard Lee saidThe project will be explored under the HKMA’s Project Ensemble framework. It is expected to connect with Hong Kong’s Commercial Data Interchange and CargoX to enable secure data sharing among authorised participants.
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Officials said the initiative targets inefficiencies in cargo finance, a market estimated at about US$1.5 trillion (AU$2.1 trillion) annually, where paper documents and manual verification remain common.
Back in November of last year, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced that all licensed crypto exchanges can connect to global liquidity by sharing order books with affiliated overseas platforms.
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