Predictions that adoption of blockchain technology is merely a concept that won't become mainstream until the distant future appear to have been greatly exaggerated.

Bank of America, Wells Fargo and HSBC are among the more than 40 banks and financial firms that announced Tuesday they would invest in R3's distributed ledger, or blockchain, technology.

Major financial institutions from 15 countries pledged $107 million to New York-based R3's Corda, a distributed ledger technology platform for regulated financial institutions that can record, manage and automate legal agreements between business partners. This is among the largest-ever investments in blockchain technology.