DnB is the largest financial service group in Norway that was created by the merger of the Bergen Bank and Den Norske Creditbank in 1990. The company has shown interest in the distributed ledger technology several times. The latest attempt of the company to employ the new technology seems to be a more comprehensive one as DnB is partnering up with IOTA Tangle, an open source DLT. IOTA Tangle is the platform on which runs the cryptocurrency IOTA, 9th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization at the time of writing.
DnB is not the first bank to show interest in the distributed ledger technology. DLT has many applications that can be used by different services to facilitate their processes. Banks can apply DLT to different areas of their business operations. Transactions could be one of the easiest solutions as blockchain-based technologies are famous for their security, speed, and transparency. In fact, several central banks around the world have already started looking at blockchain as the solution to facilitate transactions between banks.
The agreement DnB made with IOTA, allows both companies to examine the applications of DLT in their respective fields. The information that has been released on the agreement does not specify any exact purpose of the partnership. Examining the technology in the light of different processes to find various applications could be even more beneficial for the industry. The blockchain is relatively new, so those who are the first to find its applications could benefit a lot in terms of competitive advantages.
Representatives of the two companies commented on the news. Founder of IOTA, David Sønstebø said in an interview: “Norway has always been a vanguard in adopting cutting-edge technological paradigm shifts that improve the efficiency of our society, I am very excited at the IOTA Foundation which is spearheading Distributed Ledger Technology and IoT payments working with Norway’s largest financial institution on carrying this tradition onwards”. The enthusiasm seems to be shared on DnB’s side. Head of DLT at the company, Lasse Meholm commented: “As Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine to Machine (M2M) communication and payment for microservices seem to escalate in the future, we think engaging in a Distributed Ledger based technology like IOTA gives us valuable experience and know-how on future revenue streams and business models. We are looking forward to dive into the IOTA space”.
The result of the collaboration between the two companies is something to look forward to. Other banks in the industry will definitely keep a close watch as well, to see if the partnership leads to any results that could benefit the sector as a whole.
