Multi-sided payment platform using Blockchain and Open banking

Abstract: There are various large competitors, dominating the digital payment market. These competitors acquire most of the customers, maintaining their dominant influence in the market by charging customers and merchant’s fees for mobile payments. The purpose of this study is to investigate and develop a payment system that connects various payment applications and bank services. This system is developed with the help of blockchain and open banking technology. The blockchain system is utilized as a secure universal database, while the open banking technology is used for transactions. This study proposes an architecture for a multi-sided payment platform. The architecture follows the microservice design pattern which allows the components of the system to be individually developed and maintained. A prototype system was developed as a proof of concept for the architecture, proving the possibility of a multisided payment platform. The “ICA Handla” payment application and Nordea (open banking) system were used to connect to the prototype through gateway programs. The purpose of gateway programs is to connect a mobile payment application or a bank service with the blockchain system. The multi-sided payment application creates opportunities in the digital payment market.