Financial giant and card provided JCB and Paystand, a payment network that leverages blockchain technology, have entered into an agreement to create the first end-to-end blockchain-powered B2B digital payment platform for Japanese enterprises and JCB’s customers in Japan and Asia, according to a press release from the companies.

The annual value of the transactions in the B2B market where JCB operates amounts to $10 trillion USD annually. Most of these transactions are cash payments, as only 1% of Japan’s commercial transactions are conducted through the use of a credit card at the moment. 

According to the companies, this focus on pre-internet technology costs businesses in Japan between $500 billion USD and $1 trillion in lost productivity and ROI. This platform is expected to eliminate many of these circumstantial costs and to provide a few other benefits. 

The expectations are that time to cash for businesses will lower by 60% through the use of digital systems that leverage a cloud-based payment infrastructure. In addition to this, through the use of Paystand’s blockchain technology, it will become very hard to intentionally (and unintentionally) commit fraud, as all of the transaction hashes will be stored on an immutable record for an easy and transparent overview.

All in all, the companies are hoping the platform will improve the payment experience for merchants, enabling them to easily integrate it in their existing workflow.

CEO of Paystand, Jeremy Almond explains in the press release that B2B companies around the planet are constantly burdened by the commercial infrastructure designed for a pre-internet world. As a result of this design, there is a lot of paperwork, manual processes, transaction fees, and delays, unnecessarily costing businesses a lot of time and resources in the process. He continues to add that this relationship they are developing with JCB is an indication that enterprises are demanding a better payment infrastructure. 

Leveraging blockchain technology like this will enable companies to get their cash faster and easier, resulting in the ability for them to reinvest their revenue sooner, bolstering the economy and providing a significant amount of savings and productivity in the long run. Blockchain is there to make sure that no fraud is happening, errors don’t go unseen, and transactions are settled faster and accurately.