Blockchain consortium we.trade has announced that the first live trade transactions have been conducted on its platform.

Officially launched in October 2017, we.trade is an initiative by a group of banks including Deutsche Bank, HSBC, KBC, Natixis, Rabobank, Societe Generale, Banco Santander and UniCredit, in collaboration with IBM. Nordea joined the cohort in December 2017.

According to the official release, 10 companies have executed 7 trade transactions on the platform over the last 5 days via 4 banks. The trades marked the first commercially viable open account trades, based on blockchain technology.

“The we.trade platform is a live, blockchain based trade platform. These transactions prove that we.trade is a robust and commercially viable proposition. We are delighted to have launched for the first time in the world, a blockchain based platform that enhances the overall customer experience, when trading internationally,” said Roberto Mancone, Chief Operating Officer, we.trade.

Built on the IBM Blockchain Platform, the we.trade solution is powered by Hyperledger Fabric. It leverages smart contracts and offers customers access to a simple user-interface.

we.trade is currently available across 11 European countries including Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK, and expects to expand into additional markets in Europe and globally going forward.

“The next step will be getting buy-in from additional banks and their customers in Europe and further afield”, Mancone added.