There are many blockchains that are focused on penetrating the traditional financial institutions. These projects intend to make the system faster and more efficient than the traditional system we see today. Projects like Stellar and Ripple share this goal. However, many other blockchain projects are trying to penetrate other industries apart. It’s true that integrating blockchain technology will have a lot of benefits, but experts suggest that it will only be possible if the institutions change their current internal IT infrastructure. This is according to a reports published by Scotland’s national news outlet on the 9th of November.
Libra’s Jeremy Drain, during a speech at the ScotChain2018 conference talked about the impact of blockchain technology on commerce. In his words:
“Many people in the industry believe that incorporating blockchain can be done easily on the current infrastructure. However, the data of these firms are different”.
What Others Have To Say
Drain wasn’t the only one who believed the blockchain cannot be integrated into the modern day financial industry without some necessary adjustments. Kent McKenzie, the risk advisor for RegTech and Apolline Blandin from Cambridge Centre of Alternative Finance both pointed out the regulatory challenges attached to using blockchain for governments. They also said that a standard must be set for the industry if it is to successfully penetrate the financial services industry.
Casey Kuhlman, the CEO of Monax, a company that provides smart contracts had this to say:
“The blockchain is not yet a fully mature software and the value proposition is uncertain because of the different tech involved in cryptocurrencies”.
Michael Young, the CEO of MBN Solutions, a recruitment Firm, said that blockchain is going to impact traditional infrastructures since many companies are already looking for how to integrate this technology. The traditional IT infrastructure will have to adjust to support the new order. In his words:
“No doubt, blockchain success stories have one thing in common: the right infrastructure was put in place to allow blockchain data processing that is seamless, fast and secure. This may not be an issue for many startups today but large corporate entities will need to adjust their infrastructure to keep up with blockchain technology”.
In October, Fujitsu, the mega IT equipment provider announced that it was making plans to create a blockchain based system that will be used as a settlement platform across banks. The project involves nine banks within the same country. The idea is to confirm how viable blockchain technology is. It will involve the use of an unnamed digital currency.
In June, Moscow Exchange announced that it is creating an infrastructure that will give companies the power to carry out ICOs. The CEO of the company Alexander Afanasiev said that the exchange will not list tokens. It will only issue futures contracts for ICOs and provide information to token issuers about what their responsibility is.