Australian National Blockchain aims to transform business

Australia’s first cross-industry, large-scale, digital platform will enable Australian businesses to collaborate using the IBM Blockchain Platform and blockchain-based smart legal contracts.

Known as the Australian National Blockchain (ANB), the new platform “will represent a significant new piece of infrastructure in Australia’s digital economy, enabling companies nationwide to join the network to use digitised contracts, exchange data and confirm the authenticity and status of legal contracts”, according to its backers.

The ANB consortium comprises professional services firm Herbert Smith Freehills, CSIRO’s Data61 and IBM.

Once completed, the ANB will enable organisations to digitally manage the life cycle of a contract, not just from negotiation to signing, but also continuing over the term of the agreement, with transparency and permissioned-based access among parties in the network.

The service will provide organisations of all sizes the ability to use blockchain-based smart contracts to trigger business processes and events.

ANB will provide smart legal contracts (SLC) that contain smart clauses with the ability to record external data sources such as Internet of Things (IoT) device data, enabling these clauses to self-execute if specified contract conditions are met.

For example, construction site sensors could record the time and date of a delivery of a load on the blockchain and trigger a smart contract between the construction company and the bank that would automatically notify the bank that terms have been met to provide payment on that load delivery.

“Technologies like blockchain are set to transform the legal industry and the wider business landscape as we know it,” Natasha Blycha, Blockchain and Smart Legal Contract Lead from Herbert Smith Freehills, said.

“This presents a huge opportunity for agile and forward-thinking firms and has potential to deliver significant benefits to our clients and the business community as a whole.

“Our clients are enthusiastic about process automation, and how it can support a move away from paper-based systems, simplify supply chains and quickly and securely share information with customers and regulators.”

The consortium partners will first test the concept as a pilot project, using IBM Blockchain. The consortium is already working with another leading Australian law firm to bring the ANB to market.

In future, regulators, banks, law firms and other Australian businesses will be invited to participate in the pilot, which is expected to start before the end of the year.

Should the Australian pilot be successful, the consortium intends to roll out the technology to other markets overseas.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Denys Rudyi

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