CLS Group Makes Huge Investment In Blockchain Consortium R3

CLS, a forex settlement and processing provider recently announced that it has made an investment of $5 million in the blockchain consortium R3. This large infusion has given CLS representation on the board of directors of the consortium.

This investment is the third part of R3's funding round and looks to be a very successful round. CLS is not the only company to join this funding round as investments have also been made by Singapore's OUE, a real-estate company, and ITS – a Japanese IT company. These two companies have also contributed $5 million each.

The two previous parts of the funding rounds took place in 2017. The consortium received a total of $107 million from a number of different companies. Some of the investors include large companies like Intel, Bank of America and HSBC.

R3 first entered the market three years ago. It then had the support of several large investment banks, though some of them have withdrawn their participation despite R3's growth. This includes Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs. Since then it has released ‘Corda‘, its own blockchain platform.

R3

Forex Provider Jumps On Blockchain Bandwagon

CLS, a company based in New York has a powerful presence in the forex market. The company provides settlement solutions to more than 60 companies involved in forex – most of them major financial institutions like the Citigroup. Settlement providers like CLS allow forex traders to minimize risks, especially when it comes to ensuring that a currency transfer happens to both.

This is done by having both members of a settlement submit transaction instructions to CLS. These are then authenticated and confirmed by the provider and then executed on the settlement date simultaneously. This ensures that a forex transaction is done quickly and seamlessly on both sides.

The addition of blockchain technology to the company's systems will be a big help. It can assist in streamlining the processes and lowering the costs of the transfer. It is also not just depending on CLS alone for its blockchain development. While working with R3 for its main CLS platform, it is also collaborating with HyperLedger Fabric and IBM to develop ‘CLSNet‘, which will allow new currencies to be added to its services.

In a statement, David Rutter, CEO of R3 said

CLS is critically important to the functioning of one of the most important markets in the world. It is absolutely right that major infrastructure players like this look to technologies such as blockchain to continue making their products and services faster, easier, safer and more cost-effective for the end user.

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