UBS Contributes Blockchain Code to HIV Research Effort

UBS has donated the code for a blockchain-based trading platform to a nonprofit group funding research into a cure for HIV/AIDS.

The HEAL Alliance, a nonprofit group focused on supporting HIV research, plans to use UBS's code as part of a platform being developed by London-based financial tech startup Finclusion Systems, with the goal being to ultimately raise money using the technology.

The UBS Innovation Lab is one of the backers of the initiative alongside Microsoft, Intel, and the University of California San Francisco­ Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology Center for AIDS Research.

UBS donated code to the initiative previously developed for use in a proposed blockchain-based trade settlement system. The bank was one of several firms tied to the initiative, a group that also includes the CME Group, Euroclear, LCH.Clearnet, the London Stock Exchange and Société Générale.

The HEAL Alliance is hoping to raise $10bn selling 'social impact bonds' on the blockchain-based platform, which is currently undergoing testing and not collecting investments at this time.

Funds raised will be used to foster research into a cure for the autoimmune disease.

When reached for comment, UBS Group chief information officer Oliver Bussmann said that the initiative grows out of a previous effort to create programmable bonds using blockchain technology.

"This experiment confirmed the potential benefits: clearing and settlement on blockchain could be faster, more efficient and transparent while reducing settlement risk and operational cost," he said.

Bussmann continued:

"UBS is proud to contribute to the HEAL Bond on Blockchain and agreed to share the learnings of its 'Smart Bond' experiment with the HEAL Alliance.”

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