According to Cointelegraph, Europe’s Banco Santander and tech behemoth IBM have announced an accord involving the IBM blockchain.

The pair signed a $700 million USD deal aiming to increase Santander’s technological developments.

The news was released yesterday via a press release.

IBM Blockchain

The deal is a five-year “global technology agreement” that will improve the bank’s services by using innovative technology such as blockchain, AI, and big data. IBM will take care of the technology behind its new services.

IBM has been leading the blockchain revolution in business across the globe. Only last week, the company successfully completed a blockchain trial aimed at improving the shipping industry. In this instance, IBM’s blockchain recorded a shipment of mandarins from China to Singapore.

The details of the trade were recorded on the blockchain. This replaced the usual bill of lading (BL) document. In normal practice, the BL is mailed to all parties involved in the shipment; this includes banks and those who provide trade financing. It can take anywhere up to a week to send the document around.

However, in using the IBM blockchain instead, the entire record is sent in 1 second.