Federal Reserve works with China’s blockchain ally for instant payments

The United States Federal Reserve is moving forward with its real-time payment project FedNow Service by starting experimenting with the blockchain infrastructure.

On Tuesday, the Fed officially launched the FedNow Service Provider Showcase, aiming to provide financial institutions and users with a range of services to help them implement FedNow Service, which launches in 2023.

At launch, the showcase includes more than 70 profiles and service providers that support instant payments, including a New York-based blockchain company, focused on instant payment solutions, blockchain interoperability and central bank digital currencies (CBDC). The platform is known for being involved in Chinese blockchain projects, including cooperation with Suzhou City Municipal for the city’s development of blockchain Infrastructure.

Other providers in the showcase include services like BNY Mellon Immediate Payments, Mastercard Track Business Payment Service and ePayments.

“We are the only blockchain company selected so far,” Cypherium CEO Sky Guo told Cointelegraph, adding that consumers will be able to use Cypherium’s digital wallet or blockchain technology as part of the FedNow payment project. He also noted that Cypherium’s technology will also enable interoperability with other payment solutions:

“We will provide a digital wallet for users to access FedNow services, enabling FedNow to interact with other payment systems like RTGS, blockchains, payment solution providers and others.”

FedNow business executive Nick Stanescu pointed out that Cypherium’s participation in the project will help “organizations to identify and connect with partners they’ll need to build the end-to-end solutions the market is demanding.”

Related: Fed’s Lael Brainard hints at US playing a lead role in development of CBDCs

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the United States Federal Reserve Board officially announced plans to release FedNow back in 2019 with an ultimate goal of permitting U.S. banks of every size to provide real-time payments to their customers by 2023.

Apart from FedNow, Cypherium has also been a member of the U.S. Faster Payments Council (FPC), an organization aiming to provide a global inclusive payment system, since 2019. According to Cypherium CEO, the only other blockchain-related participant in the FPC is blockchain payment firm Ripple.