<p>British multinational banking giant Standard Chartered, with over <a href="https://av.sc.com/corp-en/content/docs/SCB_ARA_2018_FINAL.pdf">$685 billion</a> in total assets, has joined the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance.</p> <p>As a member of the Alliance, Standard Chartered<a href="https://www.sc.com/en/media/press-release/standard-chartered-joins-enterprise-ethereum-alliance/"> said</a> it will collaborate with other industry leaders to strengthen blockchain research and application in the banking sector.</p> <p>Other banking giants such as JPMorgan, ING, Citi and Spanish banking group BBVA, are already <a href="https://entethalliance.org/members/">members</a> of the Alliance, among 100 others. The Alliance aims to drive the use of Ethereum blockchain as an open-standard to empower enterprises.</p> <p>Standard Chartered said it views blockchain as “central to banking and commerce in the digital era, so transactions can be verified, secure and processed in real time.”</p> <p>This is not the first blockchain initiative by Standard Chartered. The bank is a founding member of the blockchain trade platform Voltron and recently <a href="https://www.sc.com/en/media/press-release/weve-completed-our-first-cross-border-letter-of-credit-blockchain-transaction-in-the-oil-industry-with-ptt-group/">completed</a> its first international letter of credit (LC) transaction on the platform for the oil industry.</p> <p>Standard Chartered is also an <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/hong-kong-china-december-18-2018-1286806993?src=cc4d7262-4f80-4e42-9401-c38f1eda0856-1-0">investor</a> in blockchain payments firm Ripple. It is also <a href="https://www.sc.com/en/media/press-release/weve-signed-a-memorandum-of-understanding-with-linklogis/">co-creating</a> blockchain-based supply chain financing solutions with China-based Linklogis, as well as is a participant in digital currency projects by the central banks of Thailand and Singapore. </p>