DBS bank completes pilot for government grants on blockchain

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Singapore-based DBS Bank (NASDAQ: DBSDY) has successfully piloted a programmable grant disbursement solution using the bank’s permissioned blockchain to improve governance and efficiency of government payouts.

DBS programmed the qualifying conditions to receive the grant into smart contracts on the DBS permissioned blockchain, which automatically triggered money transfers to the beneficiaries that met the conditions, namely 27 local fintech firms.

“The pilot demonstrates how government agencies can explore the use of this solution to execute disbursements more efficiently with greater governance controls and an enhanced user experience,” said DBS in a press release. Adding that “the solution could also provide businesses faster access to government cash payouts.”

The pilot was initiated by the Singapore Fintech Association (SFA), a cross-industry, non-profit association that facilitates collaboration between multiple stakeholders and run in collaboration with Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG), a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry of the Government of Singapore.

Using DBS’ permissioned blockchain, government agencies like EnterpriseSG and its designated intermediaries, such as SFA, can determine and program conditions for the governing grant disbursements. Once smart contracts verify that the conditions are met, the grants are automatically disbursed as cash to beneficiaries.

“This enhances governance control while reducing the need for manual processing of cash handling by intermediaries, enabling businesses to receive government cash payouts faster,” said DBS. “In addition, the bank’s permissioned blockchain enables full visibility of the entire disbursement process, which provides greater transparency and helps organisations reap operating efficiencies across reconciliation and reporting.”

The pilot was conducted during the Singapore Fintech Festival 2023 and built on DBS’s experience with Purpose-Bound Money (PBM), an innovation of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)—the central bank and financial regulatory authority of Singapore—that enables money to be directed towards a specific purpose, without requiring money itself to be programmed.

DBS has been participating in a multi-year MAS-led digital currency project, Project Orchid, which explores use cases for PBM and the digital Singapore dollar in the country. DBS said that in the next phase of the project, it will explore extending PBM for more use cases with EnterpriseSG and other government agencies.

Han Kwee Juan, country head of DBS Singapore, emphasized the significance of this latest successful pilot, saying: “This programmable grant disbursements pilot innovates a new payment instrument that leverages the learnings from our Purpose Bound Money pilots, and marks a key milestone in the industrialisation of blockchain technology.”

He added that DBS “envision this payment innovation being extended to more use cases including milestone-based project payments, consumer rewards and more.”

This sentiment was echoed by Shadab Taiyabi, president of the SFA, who said that the SFA would “continue to support collaborations between the public and private sectors in solutions such as programmable grant disbursements as Singapore advances towards its Smart Nation objectives.”

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