The Chamber of Digital Commerce, a global blockchain trade association, has announced the addition of two major international banks to its Executive Committee.

BNP Paribas and BNY Mellon are joining the chamber after being involved in the blockchain space for quite some time.

“BNP Paribas and BNY Mellon’s membership with the Chamber of Digital Commerce underscores the importance of this technology for major banks, and the power of collaboration at the highest levels of the financial industry to accelerate the adoption of blockchain technology,” according to Chamber Founder and President Perianne Boring.

BNP Paribas, with its presence in over 70 countries, serves more than 30 million customers. It is also globally recognized as an important innovator in distributed ledger technology. In December 2016, it processed and cleared its first real-time blockchain payments.

“Blockchain technology has the potential to change the way banks work. It presents many advantages such as more transparency, traceability and security for our clients. BNP Paribas continues to explore various possibilities with the Blockchain technology and other innovative tools and looks forward to working closely with the Chamber and its members,” said Sadia Halim, Head of Innovation CIB Americas at BNP Paribas.

BNY Mellon is the world's largest custodian bank with more than $30.5 trillion in assets in custody and over $1.72 trillion in assets under management. It has an established history of innovation in blockchain, including the development of BDS 360, a test system which uses blockchain technology to create a backup record of brokerage transactions.

“Blockchain technology is the future of the transactions in the financial industry,” said Alex Batlin, Global Head of Emerging Business & Technology and Global Blockchain Lead of BNY Mellon. “Active innovation in these early stages is crucial to identifying and creating the most effective and beneficial implementations. BNY Mellon is proud to be a vocal advocate for distributed ledger technology and we look forward to collaborating with the Chamber.”