The Australian federal agency is currently developing a national blockchain that will allow businesses to carry out transactions based on smart legal contracts.
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) is working with the law firm Herbert Smith Freehills and IBM on a pilot for a new platform called the Australian National Blockchain (ANB).
The objective? Let businesses automate transactions based on pre-defined legal terms – designed to comply with Australian regulations – coded into smart contracts on top of an IBM-powered blockchain network.
“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,” the agency explained in the announcement.
The pilot is expected to start by the end of 2018 and that it plans to invite regulators, banks, law firms and other businesses in the country to be a part of it.
