HSBC Holdings plc., a London-based banking company, recently completed its first blockchain-based letter of credit transaction using the Chinese yuan. It used the Voltron trade finance platform, which helped increase the speed of the process, according to a report by Reuters.

With this letter of credit, Hong Kong-based MTC Electronics exported a shipment of LCD parts and panels to its parent company Shenzhen MTC in China. The blockchain platform exchanged the electronic documents in 24 hours compared to the typical five to 10-day process for conventional document exchange, according to the report.

The bank plans to gain more data on the Voltron platform soon so other banks will jump on board.

"We are hoping that we will have something by end of the year, maybe the first quarter of next year, where will we know from Voltron what it costs, at which point, a lot of banks who might be sitting on the sidelines will be able to make a decision," Ajay Sharma, regional head of global trade and receivables finance, Asia-Pacific, HSBC, said in the report. "Clearly we are hoping that through this technology, the unit cost of doing a transaction comes down, along with other benefits, such as speed."