South Korea’s NH NongHyup Bank pilots blockchain-based cross-border payments

JP Morgan – an investor in blockchain specialist Partior – acted as both the beneficiary and settlement bank. Partior has developed a global unified ledger-based interbank rail for real-time clearing and settlement. It has its roots in project Ubin, a blockchain-based prototype for multi-currency payments developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore in partnership with JPMorgan and Temasek.

The pilot sae NH NongHyup Bank execute transactions based on realistic cross-border payment and foreign currency liquidity management scenarios for the Korean market, validating key technical capabilities such as system interoperability, message processing accuracy, and real-time settlement functionality.

The pilot was conducted as a technology validation exercise using simulated data, without involving actual fund transfers or customer information. Partior says the results confirm that blockchain-based payments can be implemented reliably within Korea’s current regulatory environment.

A NH NongHyup Bank spokesperson says: “Our collaboration with Partior has laid the groundwork for building a blockchain-enabled payment ecosystem. We expect that, once operationalised, this model could significantly reduce structural inefficiencies inherent in the current system.”