UBS Donates Blockchain Code to HIV Research Project
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- Wall Street Journal
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Finclusion, a London-based fintech firm, has developed a blockchain platform for HEAL Alliance, a non-profit organisation looking into a cure for HIV that wants to issue social impact bonds.
UBS has provided the code originally developed in its innovation lab to run a blockchain bond-trading platform, which it unveiled in September 2015.
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HEAL wants to issue up to $10 billion worth of so-called HEAL Bonds to fund research into HIV and the development of “cure centres,” according to a statement on January 21.
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The bonds will have 25-year maturities and have been inspired by the Global Alliance Vaccine Initiative’s successful “vaccine bond” model.
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Other collaborators on the HEAL project include Microsoft, Intel, the HIV Cure Initiative and the UC San Francisco UCSFGIVI Center for AIDS Research. City of London law firm Linklaters has been offering pro bono support.
Peter Jensen, the chief executive of Finclusion, said there were numerous benefits to issuing bonds on a blockchain platform.
“We don’t need to incur the same settlement and clearing costs for bonds and we can go straight to market with or without a syndicator.” Peter Jensen, chief executive, Finclusion
Finclusion’s platform will be tested from January 21 until April 20 and will receive support from the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s programme for fintech startups to ensure it is compliant with existing regulations governing the issue of securities. A target date for the first HEAL Bond is not known.
