UBS Contributes Blockchain Code to HIV Research Effort

UBS has donated the code for a blockchain-based trading platform to a nonprofit group funding research into a cure for HIV/AIDS.

AccessTimeIconJan 22, 2016 at 1:00 a.m. UTC
Updated Aug 18, 2021 at 4:31 p.m. UTC

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UBS has donated the code for a blockchain-based trading platform to a nonprofit group funding research into a cure for HIV/AIDS.

The HEAL Alliance, a nonprofit group focused on supporting HIV research, plans to use UBS's code as part of a platform being developed by London-based financial tech startup Finclusion Systems, with the goal being to ultimately raise money using the technology.

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  • The UBS Innovation Lab is one of the backers of the initiative alongside Microsoft, Intel, and the University of California San Francisco­ Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology Center for AIDS Research.

    UBS donated code to the initiative previously developed for use in a proposed blockchain-based trade settlement system. The bank was one of several firms tied to the initiative, a group that also includes the CME Group, Euroclear, LCH.Clearnet, the London Stock Exchange and Société Générale.

    The HEAL Alliance is hoping to raise $10bn selling 'social impact bonds' on the blockchain-based platform, which is currently undergoing testing and not collecting investments at this time.

    Funds raised will be used to foster research into a cure for the autoimmune disease.

    When reached for comment, UBS Group chief information officer Oliver Bussmann said that the initiative grows out of a previous effort to create programmable bonds using blockchain technology.

    "This experiment confirmed the potential benefits: clearing and settlement on blockchain could be faster, more efficient and transparent while reducing settlement risk and operational cost," he said.

    Bussmann continued:

    "UBS is proud to contribute to the HEAL Bond on Blockchain and agreed to share the learnings of its 'Smart Bond' experiment with the HEAL Alliance.”

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