IBM has inked a deal with Japan's largest bank to develop smart contracts that automate business transactions using blockchain technology, reports ZDNet.
IBM said it will work with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi to design, manage and establish contracts that could potentially be deployed among business partners. IBM and the bank plan to use blockchain technologies to facilitate business transactions between each other.
Essentially, blockchain facilitates transactions between end users without requiring an intermediary. This enables the two parties — i.e. a patient and provider or a provider and a payer, etc. — to directly interact without a third party. Some prominent healthcare leaders, such as Humana CEO Bruce Broussa, have expressed interest in developing and using blockchain to streamline healthcare payments.
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