Major banks mark first-ever international trade using blockchain tech

The logo of Australia's Commonwealth Bank adorns an automatic teller machine (ATM) in central Sydney, Australia, October 18, 2016. REUTERS/David Gray

SYDNEY: The first cross-border transaction between banks using multiple blockchain applications has taken place, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Wells Fargo & Co said, resulting in a shipment of cotton to China from the United States. 

Australian cotton trader Brighann Cotton Marketing bought the shipment bound for the port city Qingdao from US division Brighann Cotton in Texas, the companies and their banks said in a joint statement. The blockchain trade, for 88 bales, totalled US$35,000 (RM145,867), Commonwealth Bank told Reuters.