By - Most of the world’s major banks and stock exchanges have already deployed or are investing in blockchain technology.
- Blockchain can reduce settlement time and risk exposure in capital markets by 99% according to Nasdaq, who already have a blockchain platform for issuing securities.
- Blockchain and cryptocurrency technology is allowing the world’s unbanked population to participate in the digital economy.
2018 is the year that we see blockchain solutions moving past proof of concept and being deployed to mass markets. The world’s biggest banks like the Credit Suisse Group and the ING Groep have already completed over $30 million in securities lending using blockchain-based software.
Governments are also seeing the potential of blockchain, and the UK Central Bank recently announced that the Bank of England’s (BoE) updated payment system will be compatible with blockchain-based technology.
The BoE is working to modernize the country’s Real-Time Gross Settlement system, which handles transactions worth around 500 billion pounds, that’s almost a third of Britain’s annual economic output.
Blockchain technology is already making financial markets more efficient, more secure, more inclusive and more transparent. What’s exciting is that this is only the beginning.
Removing risk and redundancy
The current financial system is overly complex and costly as inter-bank transactions need to rely on a trusted third party to maintain a central ledger as the record of authority.
This is a slow and expensive process. Blockchain technology removes the need to have a trusted third party maintaining a record of authority as each bank will have a copy of the central ledger. This ledger will be identical for everyone on the blockchain and cannot be altered. Everyone can see what transactions have taken place, and there is no room for disputes or error. 
Nasdaq claimed that blockchain holds the potential to reduce settlement time and risk exposures by over 99 percent when the exchange implemented its own blockchain-based platform in 2015.
“Through this initial application of blockchain technology, we begin a process that could revolutionize the core of capital markets infrastructure systems. The implications for settlement and outdated administrative functions are profound,” said the former CEO of Nasdaq, Bob Greifeld.
Small business and the unbanked bounty
This is one the most exciting sectors where blockchain and cryptocurrency will have a massive impact.
Blockchain and cryptocurrency allow small businesses to transact directly with customers without the need for a bank to facilitate and verify the transaction. This means that billions of unbanked people around the world can now participate in the global digital economy through blockchain and cryptocurrency.
Banks can take up to three days to process a payment, whereas blockchain applications can complete this process in seconds depending on the network’s cryptographic load. This results in faster transaction speeds and lower transaction costs for both consumers and businesses.
We are already seeing mass market adoption for payment apps like BRAVO that are making it easy for any person or small business to pay or get paid in both fiat and cryptocurrency using blockchain technology.
BRAVO will also be launching an upcoming TGE to fund global expansion, you can find out more about BRAVO here »
Money talks
With blockchain’s potential, it’s no surprise that billions of dollars are being invested in the technology. Venture capital is pouring into blockchain tech with figures for 2018 quickly blowing past the $512 million invested last year according to KPMG’s latest Pulse of Fintech report.
Governments are also getting involved. In the district of Jiangbei, China the state has just announced plans to launch a $1.4 billion blockchain fund according to a report from Xinhua News Agency.
The Canadian government has pledged over $400 million for fintech innovation and in Singapore the monetary authority is working with commercial banks to develop blockchain applications for businesses and consumers.
We have not yet nearly begun to see the full impact that blockchain technology will have on the financial industry, but as the Harvard Business review said: “The blockchain will do to the financial system what the internet did to media.”
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