Bank of England Seeks to Accelerate Blockchain Work
A senior #Bank of #England official says the central bank’s #fintech accelerator is looking for new #blockchain opportunities.
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Quick Blockchain Adoption a ‘Myth’, Says Russian Central Banker
#Blockchain #technology isn’t ready to replace #banks today, according to a high-ranking official at Russia’s #central bank.
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If You Understand Google Docs, You Can Understand Blockchain
Consensus algorithms? Economic game theory? Lets put that aside for a second.
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Forschungsprojekt: Blockchain als Basis für ausserbörslich gehandelte Aktien
Die #Blockchain-Technologie ermöglicht neue Lösungsansätze in der Finanzwelt. Um solche Lösungen zu entwickeln und zu testen, hat sich ein Konsortium formiert, zu welchem auch die Schweizer Unternehmen InCore Bank, Inventx, SIX, Swisscom, ti&m und Zürcher Kantonalbank gehören.
Als Fallbeispiel wird der Prozess der Abwicklung #ausserbörslich gehandelter #Aktien untersucht und unter Zuhilfenahme der Blockchain neu gestaltet. Dabei sollen die Abwicklungszeiten, -kosten und -risiken des ausserbörslichen Wertschriftenhandels minimiert werden.
Nicht kotierte Schweizer Wertpapiere werden bilateral zwischen Finanzinstituten gehandelt (auch Over-the-Counter / OTC-Trading genannt). Die Abwicklung solcher Handelsgeschäfte ist häufig aufwändig, risikobehaftet und langsam. Deshalb entwickelt das Institut #für Finanzdienstleistungen Zug IFZ der Hochschule Luzern zusammen mit den Projektpartnern InCore Bank, Inventx, SIX, Swisscom, ti&m und Zürcher Kantonalbank einen Software-Prototyp.
Das Konsortium strebt dabei mit einer Blockchain basierten Lösung an, dass der Abgleich des ausserbörslichen Handelsgeschäfts vereinfacht wird. Weiter soll die Lieferung und Zahlung des Wertpapiers weniger Zeit beanspruchen und im Optimalfall «real-time» erfolgen. Zudem soll erreicht werden, dass das Trade-Reporting auch künftig den regulatorischen Anforderungen entspricht.
Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts
Durch das von der Kommission für Technologie und Innovation (KTI) des Bundes geförderte Projekt wird ein offener System-Standard für den Finanzplatz Schweiz angestrebt, der allen interessierten Finanzinstitutionen zur Verfügung steht. Kann das Blockchain-System wie geplant realisiert werden, enstehen für die teilnehmenden Finanzinstitute erhebliche Vorteile: Neben erleichterter Gewährleistung der regulatorischen Anforderungen an den ausserbörslichen Handel können durch den automatischen Transaktionsabgleich Kosten eingespart und durch beschleunigte Lieferung und Zahlung Risiken minimiert werden.
Blockchain-Technologie als mögliches neues Rückgrat für den ausserbörslichen Wertschriftenhandel
Das Projekt nutzt eine Variante der Blockchain «Ethereum», welche die Technologiefirma Ethcore für den Konsortium-Einsatz ausgestaltet hat. Ethcore steht dem Konsortium auch beratend zur Seite. Die Ethereum-Blockchain kann als dezentraler und kryptografisch gesicherter Computer beschrieben werden, welcher getätigte Transaktionen in chronologischer Ordnung unwiderruflich und fälschungssicher aufbewahrt.
Die Validität des Systems wird dabei durch den Konsens der Netzwerkteilnehmer erreicht. Weil das System offen (open source) ausgestaltet wird, ist das Netzwerk nicht auf das Konsortium beschränkt. Zu den möglichen Teilnehmenden gehören auch die Aufsichtsbehörden, die damit bei begründetem Verdacht die Gesetzeskonformität des ausserbörslichen Handels besser überprüfen können.
«Das breit abgestützte Konsortium verfügt über viel Markterfahrung, das nötige Entwicklungs-Knowhow und eine hervorragende IT-Infrastruktur. Es stellt damit die Praxistauglichkeit dieser neuartigen Lösung sicher. Nicht zuletzt stärkt das Projekt den Ruf des Schweizer Finanzplatzes als innovativer und regulierungskonformer Standort», sagt Projektleiter Mathias Bucher.
Was ist Blockchain?
Eine Blockchain kann im Kern als sicher verschlüsseltes Hauptbuch für Transaktionen verstanden werden, welches dezentral auf den Rechnern aller Teilnehmenden gespeichert wird. Getätigte Transaktionen werden in Blöcken zusammengefasst, welche wiederum in chronologischer Reihenfolge zu einer Kette verknüpft werden. Die Blöcke sind für alle Teilnehmenden einsehbar und können nicht manipuliert werden.Damit bilden sie eine objektive Grundlage für weitere Handlungen. Eine zentralisierte Gegenpartei ist für die Vertrauensbildung im System nicht mehr nötig. Der bekannteste Anwendungsfall der Blockchain-Technologie ist die Kryptowährung #Bitcoin. Das Potenzial geht aber über das Überweisen von virtuellen Währungen hinaus. Die Blockchain-Technologie kann eine Vielzahl von wertvollen Informationen wie digitale Verträge und Eigentumsrechte verteilt sicher speichern und Programme dezentral auf vertrauenswürdige Art ausführen. Damit können Parteien, die sich weder kennen noch vertrauen müssen, auf effiziente Art zusammenarbeiten.
The post Forschungsprojekt: Blockchain als Basis für ausserbörslich gehandelte Aktien appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
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Are ETFs Trackers that Fintech can turn into Trucks with No Breaks?
Could the next financial crisis come from the over $ 3trillion ETF and index market? Could the trend – heavy use of #ETFs – lead #into the next structured product debacle? Are these #trackers, prone to becoming dangerous #trucks with no #breaks, ready to collide in the next unexpected #turn ofRead More
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Navigating the Blockchain Revolution
Last labor day week there were perhaps 5 articles or stories on the #blockchain discovered through an alert on Google Scholar. This week there are over 50. It gets increasingly harder to navigate this landscape, especially for generalists. Gartner and other innovation and trend discovery operations are now suggesting that the blockchain is being hyped. They are simply wrong. Academics and startups in the space are real. Funding in the space is real. Even in tech wastelands, the open source nature and tradition of blockchain is fueling very rapid exploration and development.
I think the attempt to discount the depth and breadth of the impact of blockchain is due to traditional outlets of news and information being overtaken by the movement of crowd. They customarily work with major software firms with PR operations that translate and shape evolving products and innovations for them. However, with open source programs and crowd sourcing, nobody can maintain an edge for long. Funding and staff may enable a toehold, but real traction is very hard to achieve in this kind of environment. Let me put it simply. There will be very few protected applications in this space and that means that Gartner won’t be able to access a constant set of actors. It also means that traditional monetization models will fail. What will succeed is something like the DADE, a multitude of distributed application development entities that access development resources of the crowd and allocates ownership through proof of work and proof of stake. The #revolution that is covered up by the hype of blockchain is the revolution in distribution of micro-ownership and therefore micro-compensation that is at the heart of the sharing economy.
The quickly shifting landscape generates a panic even in those of us who were early adopters, especially if we thought we could leverage traditional monetization channels through providing services or consultation or developing proprietary protected applications. Developing proprietary blockchains is the latest result. These proprietary blockchains are already dinosaurs and wasteful and redundant. However, for the desperate and the short sighted, they offer the false hope of a reliable and predictable income stream. Expect more pot shots at open source from folks who have sunk assets into these proprietary blockchain systems. If you are a news outlet or a reporter, “follow the money,” and you will understand what motivates the desire to undermine the empowerment and democratization on offer through open blockchains.
[linkedinbadge URL=”https://www.linkedin.com/in/stansmith1″ connections=”off” mode=”icon” liname=”Stan Smith”] is Co Founder at Kleverer.com
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Hong Kong’s Central Bank to Test Blockchain
#Hong #Kong’s de-facto #central #bank intends to launch an innovation hub that will #test #blockchain solutions.
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Barclays Completes Blockchain Trade Finance Transaction
#Barclays has completed a #blockchain #trade #finance #transaction with incubator graduate Wave.
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69% of Customers Demand Innovation From Banks
A large majority of #customers want #innovation #from their banking suppliers, according to a survey produced by #technology firm Sopra Banking Software. The report was compiled using data from a survey of 5000 customers in six European Countries (France, UK, Germany, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands).
While 69% say it is important to have an innovative bank only 12% of consumers surveyed fully agreed that their bank is innovative. Additionally, out of the respondents Interested in new technology 33% of customers are ready to switch #banks for the latest technologies.
Consumers are willing to share more data such as their personal information in exchange for clearly identified benefits. Interestingly, the results showed the generation gap might not be as large as we would expect. Remarkably, the openness to sharing more data holds across generations, i.e. in the whole 18-75 age range. According to Forrester, the typical company only tags 3% of their data and only analyses 0.5%. Most companies are throwing away 99.5% of their leverage with the customer.
“This highlights a lack of engagement on the customer side as well as a lack of added value on the bank’s side,” said Dr David Andrieux from Sopra Banking. “From the findings, customers are happy to switch if they find better offerings demonstrating that playing it safe is the riskiest strategy of all.”
Despite the 2008 financial crisis, trust and customer satisfaction levels are remarkably high at 82% and 85% respectively and 90% of consumers have no immediate intention to move banks.
However, they are also open to change, willing to share more data and interested in new technology. Only 12% of customers agree that their bank is different from other banks while 33% ‘somewhat agree’.
This figure varies between countries and although Spanish banks are amongst the most innovative banks in Europe, Spanish customers are more demanding and less satisfied with their banks.
78% of respondents consider it to be important to have an innovative bank and 58% are ready to switch to a bank providing the latest technologies. “Perhaps, once people get a taste of the possibilities enabled by modern thinking and technologies, they can’t get enough,” explained Dr David Andrieux from Sopra Banking. Interestingly, it was evident from the findings that technology and innovation is important not just for the younger generation (18-24), but also for the whole 18-44 age range.
Traditional banks are losing their appeal. Customers are looking for something more or something different with 54% of banking customers open to choosing a ‘non-traditional’ bank such as Pure Online Banks, Ethical Banks, Community Banks and a New Twist on the traditional bank.
The interest of customers in peer-to-peer (P2P) lending and crowdfunding is significant, with 21% and 27% respectively proving of interest.
Alternative finance now constitutes a sizeable market, especially in the UK, but increasingly so in other EU countries. Despite remaining questions regarding its profitability, the European alternative finance market as a whole grew by 144% – from €1,211m in 2013 to €2,957m in 2014.
To Summarise
– ‘Traditiona banks are losing their appeal’
&8211; ‘There is a lack of engagement on the customer side as well as a lack of added value on the bank’s side’
&8211; ‘Consumers across countries and age ranges are open to personal data sharing’
&8211; ‘The Spanish and young customers have higher expectations regarding banking technologies’
Banks must innovate and create value for their customers through exciting nonconventional products and initiatives that use a platform designed for the digital age. For example, offering a digital wallet management platform, in which banks can integrate services from third-parties.
The whitepaper can be downloaded here
The post 69% of Customers Demand Innovation From Banks appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
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‘Flash Boys’ Heroes to Tap Blockchain for New Gold Exchange
The company featured in a bestselling book says it plans to use the #blockchain to build a more transparent #gold #exchange.
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