R3 started as an alliance of nine banks in 2015, with the aim of developing blockchain infrastructure for the financial sector. It has grown to include over 200 financial institutions in 2018. Banks believe that blockchain technology could save them money by making their operations faster, more efficient, and more transparent. They are racing to build products using the technology that will generate new revenue, with dozens of patent applications filed for blockchain-based products by banks around the world.
R3's main project is Corda, a blockchain, or as they call it, a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform, designed specifically for financial agreements between regulated financial institutions. The main difference between Corda and the public blockchains we are already familiar with, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, is that Corda is based on consensus only...