Chinese Steelmaker Settles $16 Million Iron Ore Deal on Blockchain

A major Chinese steelmaker settled a blockchain-based $16.87 million iron ore trade with the world's second-largest mining group, Rio Tinto and Hancock Prospecting Pty.

Listen to article In its first-ever, the Chinese steelmaker Nanjing Iron and Steel Company said it has completed an iron ore trade on the blockchain.

The steel company obtained a $16.87 million shipment of steelmaking ingredients from the joint venture between the multinational mining group Rio Tinto and Hancock Prospecting Pty.

According to Reuters, the dollar-denominated transaction was supported by Singapore-based DBS Bank and the trade finance platform Contour.

Blockchain technology is widely recognized for its potential to digitize trade finance and reduce manual paperwork.

Rio Tinto's vice president of sales and marketing, Simon Farry, said that their push towards conducting paperless deals on blockchain is part of the company's long-term plan for blockchain adoption.

Trade financing is also seeing increased disruption in its processes through blockchain tech.

In June, ??bank became the first Turkish bank to settle an international trade finance deal on the distributed ledger technology.

Earlier in May, the People's Bank of China along with other government bodies proposed a blockchain-based trade finance platform.

The world's largest mining company BHP also recently settled a $14 million iron ore trade with the world's largest steelmaker, Baosteel.