German bank’s first use of “cash on ledger” is meant to let machines settle payments autonomously with each other, without need for human intervention.
With the announced transaction, where an electric Daimler truck performed its own payment to a charging point fully automatically, Commerzbank claims to be the first German bank to develop a blockchain-based payment solution for machine-to-machine (M2M) payments.
To enable the transaction, Commerzbank says it issued Euros on a blockchain and provided Daimler Trucks with “cash on ledger” – money on the blockchain – for the truck to pay with.
Seeks new “payment architectures”
“After having completely digitised securities transactions in past pilot projects, the focus is now shifting to DLT-based payment structures. As a bank we see our mandate as creating new digital payment architectures for our clients”, says Stephan Müller, divisional board member of Commerzbank’s transaction banking.
According to Commerzbank’s press release on the topic, current payment systems still require being triggered by human intervention.