Mastercard, Citibank, and JPMorgan Chase team up to test shared ledger technology

Mastercard Inc. is teaming up with some of the largest banks in the U.S. to test shared ledger technology that will allow for the co-settlement of commercial bank currencies as well as tokenized assets such as treasury securities and investment-grade debt securities. Mastercard said in a statement that the proof-of-concept for the regulated settlement network will simulate U.S. dollar transactions. The goal is to make cross-border and systematic transactions faster and easier, and to reduce opportunities for errors and fraud.
Ledger technology could dramatically change the way finance works today. Securities such as commercial bank money, wholesale central bank money and investment grade debt currently reside in separate systems. But once these assets are converted into tokens running on a distributed ledger, they can be settled on the same system.