Today, Blockchain is at a turning point, with the transition from the creation and the exploration of technology to the construction of practical business applications. According to a recent report, 56% of global companies plan to use the blockchain by 2020. Leveraging the benefits of blockchain technology, thousands of companies around the world may be able to solve the market inefficiencies they currently endure. Just as the monumental passage from paper to online, the adoption of blockchain technology by companies around the world will see a huge shift in the way many industries operate.
Financial institutions including HSBC, Standard Chartered, Bank of China, Deutsche Bank, Société Générale and UBS, among many others, are turning to blockchain technology to accelerate, simplify and reduce the risks associated with the global annual trade of $ 16 trillion. Banks hope that the decentralized nature of technology, which draws and verifies information from thousands of different sources, will eliminate vast reams of paper documentation and unlock up to $ 2 billion in extra financing activities within eight years.
Blockchain technology can offer unprecedented opportunities that can not be replicated on centralized platforms. It reduces operating costs, maximizes efficiency and complements regulatory compliance within the system.
The current regulatory landscape is built around a model of guilt. With IT breaks and computer violations, a person within each organization has all the responsibilities and, in turn, all the blame. Blockchain technology can take it away from an individual to incorporate it into a distributed trust platform. Not only can you incorporate the conformity of the ledger, but it can also provide unprecedented security to all transactions on the system. Every movement on the blockchain is registered and unalterable, providing the necessary trust and transparency supported by regulators all over the world.
Despite this, 45% of executives are still wary of technology and cited the lack of scalability, energy-consuming mechanisms and operational risks of blockchain integration as the major deterrents to mass adoption.
Dave Locke, Chief Technology Advisor, World technology
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