Mr. World Wire

IBM has unveiled its latest bid to supply financial institutions with blockchain tech—give a warm peer-to-peer welcome to World Wire, a global payments network built on the Stellar public blockchain. IBM’s recruited six international banks to use World Wire to issue stablecoins, or tokens pegged to fiat money.

• The three identified so far: the Philippines’s RCBC, Brazil’s Banco Bradesco, and South Korea’s Bank Busan.

The timing feels right

Jesse Lund, IBM’s VP of blockchain, told Bloomberg that at least two “major U.S. banks” are considering following in JPMorgan’s footsteps to introduce their own stablecoins. Last month, JPMorgan revealed JPM Coin, a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar.

More and more, banks are creating private coins to tap into promising commercial blockchain applications: quick cross-border payments and transaction settlements. World Wire, for example, works in 72 countries with 47 currencies and 44 banking endpoints.

Big picture: Banks will make blockchain work for them by creating their own (very stable) digital coins—and they won’t be placing bets on volatile existing cryptos.