DBS Bank joins Hedera blockchain’s governing council

The bank wants to use its membership to further explore the emerging possibilities opened up by blockchain technology.

The Hedera Governing Council has welcomed Singapore’s oldest bank, DBS Bank, as its newest member, making it the first Southeast Asian lender to join the worldwide Hyperledger organization.

DBS Bank, a member of the advisory council on fintech, has joined the blockchain council alongside 39 other major technology, corporate and nonprofit leaders, including Google, IBM, Boeing, Deutsche Telekom, the University of London, Dentons and LG Electronics, among others.

The Asian lender may acquire value from Hedera’s innovative enterprise blockchain platform while also influencing it by providing input on real-world business needs.

Council members are allotted three years to serve, extendible for two terms. Members have equal voting power on network upgrades, stability and decentralized growth issues. The council also participates in the Hedera Testnet, a free testing environment that allows development teams to test the network’s capabilities.

The DBS has played an important role in the development of Singapore’s cryptocurrency and blockchain industry. Last year, the bank debuted a blockchain-powered digital asset ecosystem for corporate customers. DBS has a record of working with distributed ledger technology on the DBS Trade Finance Platform and also collaborated with Contour, Trusple and others.

DBS also co-founded a blockchain-based carbon trading network together with SGX, Standard Chartered and Temasek. As reported by Cointelegraph, the Monetary Authority of Singapore gave DBS’ brokerage arm, DBS Vickers, a license to operate crypto payment services.

DBS Bank is Singapore’s largest bank by assets and deposits, as well as South Asia’s biggest bank in terms of market capitalization. With over 9 million customers across 18 markets, DBS has a significant presence in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and China. The bank wants to use its membership to further explore the emerging possibilities opened up by blockchain technology.