Baton Systems raises $12M to develop inter-bank blockchain payments

Baton Systems has raised $12 million in Series A funding to develop its blockchain-based payments platform. The California-based startup works with banks, clearinghouses and exchanges, enabling on-demand payments using blockchain technology without the need to overhaul the users’ existing systems.

The funding round was led by Trinity Ventures, with participation from Alsop Louie and Commerce Ventures according to an announcement by the company. The funding will go towards the firm’s expansion, the CEO Arjun Jayaram stated.

This investment provides us with the strategic support and firepower to scale our bank-to-bank payment solution for the world’s leading financial institutions even faster and more effectively.

Baton Systems, has been developing a blockchain-based solution that integrates the current financial systems, eliminating the need for a complete overhaul which for most banks, would be too expensive and risky.

The company explained in the statement, “Baton provides a customizable software workflow engine to coordinate among multiple systems and institutions, achieving fast, transparent, and efficient settlement by moving real assets in real accounts, along with instant reconciliation and reporting for all parties.”

The participants in the latest funding round believe that the company can bring efficiency into the slow bank-to-bank payment process. Trinity’s general partner Schwark Satyavolu stated, “Bank-to-bank settlement today is slow and manual, trapping billions of dollars that could instead be used to grow businesses. Baton is completely transforming the global bank payments infrastructure, leveraging the best of blockchain’s potential while mitigating its key concerns.”

Baton Systems is already working with major banks and exchanges, with the CEO revealing that three of the world’s top ten banks are using its solutions. Currently, it processes $12 billion daily in payments between market participants and clearinghouses counterparties. Previously, it worked with the Bank of England which sought to rebuild its Real Time Gross Settlement system by integrating distributed ledger technology.

Blockchain startups targeting the banking industry have continued to spring as more banks continue to explore the integration of distributed ledger technology. Swiss startup Sygnum has been one of the standouts, recently acquiring a banking license in Switzerland. The company is also reported to be pursuing a similar license in Singapore.