Bangladesh's prominent textile manufacturer Viyellatex has reached a milestone by settling a trade transaction entirely through blockchain infrastructure, partnering with the global banking in
Bangladesh's prominent textile manufacturer Viyellatex has reached a milestone by settling a trade transaction entirely through blockchain infrastructure, partnering with the global banking institution Standard Chartered. In what marks the nation's first letter-of-credit settlement via blockchain technology, Standard Chartered provided both the foundational guidance and credit issuance for the garment exporter's deal. The use of the Contour platform was no accident—Standard Chartered helped establish the network itself.
Blockchain-powered commerce offers compelling advantages over conventional approaches. Transactions eliminate paper documentation, accelerate settlement timelines, and remove the layered costs of traditional intermediaries. Conventional cross-border transfers routinely involve extended settlement windows, administrative overhead, and erosion of value through currency fluctuations. When these same processes run on distributed networks, intermediary markups vanish and execution velocity improves dramatically. For Viyellatex, this represents a pathway to sharper margins and more efficient operations.
"Blockchain technology will certainly increase trading efficiency and reduce the turnaround time of the LC process," stated KM Rezaul Hasanat, who leads Viyellatex as CEO and Chairman.
Standard Chartered has positioned itself as a blockchain pioneer across Asia, having navigated the first cross-border blockchain-based letter of credit in petroleum trading and establishing the first digital yuan integration. Banks throughout the region continue expanding their blockchain infrastructure footprint.
The transition accelerates as institutions recognize blockchain's natural alignment with international commerce. This shift carries existential implications for legacy financial players whose revenue streams depend on intermediating global settlements. A growing roster of established banks now embed blockchain payment infrastructure into their operations. Santander rolled out One Pay FX, a blockchain-integrated remittance application developed alongside Ripple, bringing digital settlement to retail users. According to Ed Metzger, the platform's chief technology officer: "They have so much confidence in the low cost, same day process, it's no longer a big deal to send money abroad."
The conventional pathway for international value transfer consumes three to five business days while incurring substantially elevated expenses. One Pay FX's blockchain foundation provides end-to-end visibility while dramatically compressing both timeline and fees relative to the incumbent system.
