DBS Bank Pilots Blockchain for Government Grant Payouts in Singapore

DBS Bank Pilots Blockchain for Government Grant Payouts in Singapore

DBS Bank, the Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) as well as the Singapore Fintech Association (SFA) have together initiated a pilot blockchain project, which would help government grants disbursement to be more streamlined. This news was first shared by Fintech News and the main goal of this project is to increase the efficiency, governance, and user experience of grant payouts in Singapore.

Government Funds With Predetermined Conditions

Purpose-Bound Money (PBM) is a protocol that is at the heart of this ground-breaking project and it ensures that grant funds are only released if specific, predetermined conditions are met. These conditions are verified through smart contracts, therefore, enabling automatic and secure disbursements to the beneficiaries.

The use of PBM not just saves time as it fastens the distribution process but also lowers the requirement for manual oversight and thus, boosts the efficiency of fund allocation. The pilot was successful in the Singapore Fintech Festival 2023 and it involved 27 local fintech companies, such as Advance Intelligence, Aspire, and Experian Singapore, which are well-known industry leaders.

Applying DBS’s permissioned blockchain, the system makes sure that grants are disbursed only to those who meet the criteria, i.e. the authorized recipients. Grant disbursements and payments are more secure and faster through smart contract technology that is used to automate and streamline processes for government agencies.

Expanding the Use of Programmable Disbursements

DBS uses this project as another way of executing its role in Project Orchid, which is a multi-year program initiated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to construct the infrastructure necessary for the issuance of digital currency in Singapore. DBS is also part of a larger effort whereby it will be collaborating with government agencies to explore the further merits of programmable disbursements.

Shadab Taiyabi, President and Founder of the Fintech Association of Singapore, emphasized its solution to the challenge of getting payouts faster to the companies in local that need it. “SFA universally embrace partnerships between the government and market participants necessary for a rapid deployment of programmable grant disbursements as Singapore heads toward its Smart Nation goal,” Taiyabi stated.

DBS Introduces Blockchain-Powered Treasury Tokens

In another development, DBS also collaborates with Ant International, a digital payment provider, to launch a blockchain-based treasury and liquidity management solution. The DBS Treasury Tokens, which have been developed to improve multicurrency treasury and liquidity management, use a permissioned blockchain of DBS, which is synchronized with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

This blockchain in combination with Ant International’s treasury management hyperledger blockchain platform Whale is believed to empower intragroup liquidity management, along with allowing for uninterrupted and optimized operations for Ant International.

The above-mentioned undertakings speak of DBS Bank’s interest to take tokenization and blockchain technology on a new level, thus, the bank’s experience with MAS’s Project Orchid and Project Guardian along the way which explores the possibility of tokenization in the financial services sector paves the way to the