CULedger, a US credit union service organisation (CUSO) said it is expanding its partnership with the R3 consortium to support credit unions – aka financial cooperatives – worldwide using the Corda open source blockchain platform to make domestic and cross-border payments.

The CUSO, which oversees a cross-border distributed ledger platform, said Corda will serve as the underlying technology for CULedger’s new electronic funds transfer (EFT) product, CU Pay.

CU Pay is expected to launch in early 2020. When it goes live, it will be made available to credit unions on CULedger’s network, the Denver-based company said.

"Blockchain is positioned to transform the financial services industry over the next few years, and CULedger is helping credit unions lead the way,” said John Ainsworth, president and CEO of CULedger. “By integrating R3’s Corda Settler, we are certain that our vision of financial cooperatives operating across a shared network will be realised, and that members will stand to benefit from the transparency, security and efficiency it provides.”

“Corda’s unique approach to privacy and security will support CULedger’s efforts to develop ground-breaking blockchain-based applications for self-sovereign digital identity and fraud detection,” said David E. Rutter, CEO of R3. “We look forward to working with them to create significant efficiencies for credit unions and their members.”

CULedger initially joined R3’s global network in 2018. The network consists of more than 300 of the world’s largest financial services firms, technology companies, central banks, regulators, and trade associations working together on Corda.