After more than a year of consultation, financial firm R3 have gathered together with 9 big banks to use blockchain technology in the markets
- They want to use blockchain to "to save money and time, and to create a better paradigm for the world of Wall Street and finance" (Quote from R3 CEO David Rutter, ex of ICAP)
- Goldman Sachs, Barclays, JP Morgan, State Street, UBS, Royal Bank of Scotland, Credit Suisse, BBVA and Commonwealth Bank of Australia have all signed up.
More:
- Initial focus would be to agree on an underlying architecture
- Yet to be decided whether that would be underpinned by bitcoin's blockchain or another one
- Once decided, the first use of the technology might be the issuance of commercial paper on the blockchain
- "I think that these technologies will probably be post-trade"...
"I think savings are in the settlement side, in post-trade, in issuance, but not in exchange trading or OTC trading any time in the near future"
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Note:
The blockchain works as a huge, decentralized ledger of every bitcoin transaction ever made that is verified and shared by a global network of computers and therefore is virtually tamper-proof.
The data that can be secured using the technology is not restricted to bitcoin transactions. Two parties could use it to exchange any other information, within minutes and with no need for a third party to verify it.