Trade finance blockchain startup TradeIX is expanding its global headquarters in Dublin with 70 hires across engineering, sales, customer service and product development.

Founded in 2016, TradeIX offers a trade finance specific open-source blockchain platform that allows financial institutions to develop their own applications with open APIs.

The company’s flagship project is the Marco Polo Network, which it runs together with R3 and now 17 member banks, including BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, ING, NatWest, Natixis, SMBC and Standard Chartered.

Currently undergoing pilots, Marco Polo is expected to move into production in the second half of 2019. The platform leverages blockchain technology to simplify and speed up the processes behind open account trade finance services. The first products being tested on the platform are receivables finance and payments commitments, with the plan to expand to payables finance next year.

TradeIX has also been working independently with Standard Chartered on a number of blockchain projects, including an invoice finance programme for DHL, which was launched together with global insurer AIG, and a pilot for blockchain-based smart guarantees in trade finance for Siemens Financial Services in the UAE.

Last year, the startup received a US$16mn investment from ING, BNP Paribas, Kistefos and Tech Mahindra. It is also supported by the Irish government through IDA Ireland, an agency responsible for attracting foreign direct investment into Ireland.

According to TradeIX founder and CEO Robert Barnes, 35% of the company’s workforce is based in Dublin. “The Irish operation plays a pivotal role in developing and scaling the company’s solutions,” he says in a statement.

In August, the firm opened an office in Singapore to expand its client relationships in Asia Pacific, hiring two senior staff from Standard Chartered and PrimeRevenue. TradeIX also has an office in London.