Swisscom launches national infrastructure for blockchain

Swiss Post and Swisscom are building a secure and sustainable infrastructure for blockchain applications in Switzerland, both for their own services and for Swiss-based companies, using distributed ledger technology.

One of the aims is to enable the Swiss economy to quickly obtain a leading position when it comes to using this “promising” technology.

They are connecting their existing private infrastructures for blockchain applications and - as a private blockchain, rather than a public version such as Bitcoin - it can only be used by those who have a contractual relationship with the providers of an application. As another differentiator from other such services, this infrastructure, they claim, meets the high security requirements of banks.

The infrastructure is described as the first private blockchain in Switzerland, with all data remaining completely in the country. The common infrastructure is based on the Hyperledger Fabric2 software.

The market launch for the first pilot applications is planned for the second quarter of 2019.

The two partners have already been using blockchain separately for different purposes. Swiss Post is running a pilot project with Energie Wasser Bern (ewb) enables owners of houses with a photovoltaic system to automatically bill their tenants via a blockchain for the electricity they receive from the system.

Swisscom, for its part, is working with its subsidiary daura AG on a digital share based on blockchain technology, a hot topic in the digital entertainment space.

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