From Bitcoin to Blockchain to FinTech

As many will know, Blockchain is the underpinning backbone of Bitcoin. It is effectively a distributed ledger storing all the transactional information of every Bitcoin transaction going back to the original, genesis block through to the most recently completed one. This is the part of Bitcoin, should the currency fall flat, that will continue to thrive, grow and mutate into a new form.

So why are the FS Markets sitting up now and taking note of this technology?

Make no mistake, the irony of a technology used to avoid and hide financial transactions from the large banking institutions being adopted as a secure, cost effective platform by that very same industry is not lost.

Cost efficiency and security are the largest drivers for its adoption. The present systems are old and lethargic. They run on old technology that was created before Cyber Security was a daily concern. For the last couple of years, banks have built teams internally to qualify, quantify and implement testing environments to experiment with this technolgy.

As of January 2016, the quietly formed R3 CEV, comprising of several of the largest global banks around the world, started modest trials on using Blockchain. Using this technology, combined with Azure and Ethereum they have started preliminary trials focusing on interbank share exchange as the basis of the test environment and initial results are certainly looking promising. Even JP Morgan are actively participating in their own tests moving currency from New York to Tokyo using blockchain. If this proves successful over multiple tests the implications of faster clearing times and reduced risk are clearly favourable and give an additional “value add”.

There’s still a long way to go until it becomes the de facto “Distributed Ledger” for the banking sector but it’s certainly come forward leaps and bounds – and when you have heavyweights like Gates and Branson pitching in, it certainly stands a good chance for success.

Do you think Blockchain is the future? Please leave your comments below, to find out more about the FinTech market please contact Matthew Wheeler on 01628 857333 or matthew.wheeler@bps-world.com