Use of blockchain in finance to become widespread in 5 years, say asset managers
Survey finds 65 per cent of asset managers and owners expect the technology behind bitcoin to be widely adopted by investment firms
About two thirds of asset managers and owners in Asia Pacific expect blockchain, the distributed ledger technology behind cryptocurrency bitcoin, to be widely adopted in the investment industry in the next five years, a survey by financial services firm State Street has found.
The survey of 48 asset managers and 42 asset owners carried out in partnership with Oxford Economics found 65 per cent of respondents expected to see the technology in use in the next five years. The greatest optimism came from Australia, where 50 per cent of respondents believe blockchain will significantly disrupt financial markets.
“You can look at blockchain as one technology that will completely transform the banking industry as it is today, or you can think of it as something as part of an overall solution that’s going to make financial services better,” said Hu Liang, senior managing director of State Street’s Emerging Technologies Centre.
Liang said State Street is adopting blockchain-inspired technology that incorporates aspects of the technology behind bitcoin without using all of its capabilities, which will speed up the time it takes to develop and roll out products for financial services.
Essentially a distributed ledger, blockchain is a decentralised consensus-resilient network which appeals to financial institutions as its transparent ledger is one of the most secure systems built to date.
You can look at blockchain as a technology that will completely transform the banking industry or as part of an overall solution that’s going to make financial services better
Blockchain has potential applications across a wide range of financial services, from settlement and clearing to asset assignment, transfer of assets, auditing and regulatory reporting, Liang said.
