National Australia Bank (NAB) has successfully completed an intra-bank cross-border transaction using NAB-issued stablecoin on a public, permissionless Ethereum blockchain, the official NAB website reported on March 14.

The pilot transaction, which used smart contracts for seven of the most popular global currencies, demonstrated the potential to cut the time it takes to complete cross-border transactions in half to just a few minutes, moving NAB one step closer to providing clients with a faster and easier experience who operate in multiple countries and currencies.

NAB’s Australian stablecoin, AUDN, which will be fully backed one-for-one with the Australian dollar and managed as a liability of the bank, will be the cornerstone for NAB’s ambitions in digital assets. NAB partnered with technology providers Blockfold and Fireblocks for the pilot, leveraging their expertise in smart contract creation, securely minting and burning stablecoins, and managing direct custody of digital assets on blockchain technology.

In March of 2022, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, a competitor of NAB, made history as the first bank to release a stablecoin that was linked to the Australian dollar. This digital currency, known as A$DC, allowed for secure and efficient transactions that were immune to fluctuations in value.

Source: NAB NEWS