China to Lead the Way for Blockchain Usage

Industry experts have said that China is set to lead the way with the use of blockchain as it reinforces the development of digital intelligent services, reports the South China Morning Post.

According to the report, this development is running alongside plans by the country’s telecommunications industry as it works at rolling out 5G mobile services by 2020.

Vijay Mayadas, the vice-president of corporate strategy and head of blockchain strategy at Broadridge Financial Solutions, said to the South China Morning Post, that:

When 5G, the Internet of Things and autonomous driving start to get more prevalent then blockchain could potentially become the underlying ledger to record transactions and maintain trust in those applications.

Even though China has been slower to adopt the technology compared to other countries, it’s certainly making up for lost time. It’s doing this through its banks, which are hiring experts and developers to keep up-to-date with the technology-driven landscape.

Despite housing four of the world’s five largest banks by capital, the Chinese banking system still relies on paper and faxes. However, it is attempting to make the leap to a paperless, secure, auditable, and tamper-proof system through the blockchain as the technology gains pace.

In 2016, 86 percent of companies surveyed in China reported fraud, according to Kroll, a business intelligence firm. As the use of the blockchain gains in popularity for different use cases, Chinese regulators are beginning to see the technology as the ideal solution to stopping fraud.

Other global banks are also turning their attention to exploring blockchain to prevent fraud risk in the $4 trillion trade financing industry.

Not only that, but a survey from IBM, which looked at 200 global banks, found that 34 percent of those surveyed believed that blockchain would occur and ultimately envelop their banking services by 2020.

Digital Currency Interest

China’s boost in blockchain applications is highlighted by its increased interest in digital currency.

At the beginning of the year, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) announced that it had completed a trial run of digital currency based on blockchain technology. According to the report, it revealed how the government plans on setting up the digital payment infrastructure when functional and ready for deployment.

Such a move clearly demonstrates the country’s commitment to staying ahead of competition and the fact that it understands the benefits that the blockchain can produce in the long-term. With its advancements, it’s set to become the global leader in the technology’s usage.

Source: Cryptocoinsnews

Report: Nigerian Retail Banking Sector to see 92% Disruption by FinTech

A report has shown that retail banking and fund transfers in Nigeria are the two biggest areas that are most likely to be affected by FinTech over the next five years.

The report, Nigeria FinTech Survey 2017 [PDF], which was released by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), found the likelihood of disruption within these two areas amounted to 92 percent and 85 percent respectively.

Over the last few years, the banking and payments sub-sectors have experienced a large amount of disruption with new technology-driven payments applications and processes as well as innovative digital applications that aid simpler payments, and an increase in the use of electronic devices to transfer money.

FinTech is quickly evolving within the financial services sector which is seeing an increase in the number of technology-focused startups and other entrants changing how the industry works.

In Africa, FinTech investments are estimated to have increasde by a compound annual growth rate of $200 million from 2014 to $800 million in 2016. According to the report, this could potentially increase to a value of $3 billion by 2020, with Nigeria and South Africa receiving a significant portion of the investments.

Changing Customer Needs

The report found that financial services in Nigeria see changing customer needs as the main impactor FinTechs will have on their business. It revealed that 60 percent of those surveyed believe that as much as 40 percent of financial services firms will be at risk by 2020.

With 85 percent of the African population owning a mobile phone and Nigeria leading the world in mobile share of web traffic at 82 percent, financial service industry players need to embrace the digital experience offered by companies such as Facebook, Amazon, and Google, to ensure their customers get the same level of experience from their financial service providers.

Deji Oguntonade, head of the e-Payment Solutions Group, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, said that FinTechs are more agile and are not bogged down with legacy issues from infrastructure, culture, and manpower perspectives.

He said:

They are therefore more open to try out new technologies and provide customers with endearing products and services in a much quicker manner. It would therefore be good for banks to partner with FinTechs and take advantage of their agility.

Blockchain: An Untapped Technology

Although the technology demonstrates a lot of promise, several challenges and barriers to adoption remain such as cybersecurity, privacy concerns, and restricted governance over decentralized networks.

As such, compared to other trends blockchain ranks lower on the agenda. While respondents recognize the blockchain’s importance, they are unsure of how to or unlikely to respond to this trend.

The survey found that 45 percent of respondents within banking are ‘moderately’ familiar with it while only a few consider themselves to be experts. This lack of understanding could lead market participants to underestimate the impact the blockchain could potentially have on their activities.

Source: Cryptocoinsnews

New Blockchain Partnership Proposes Solution for Remote Voting

Two Boston-based companies have teamed up to fast-track the implementation of secure, remote voting in elections through the blockchain.

After a year exploring the potential of protected voting, Voatz, Inc. and Clear Ballot Group, Inc., have decided to go ahead with the partnership in a bid to tackle the issue of remote voting.

Through an open source blockchain platform, Voatz has designed a secure platform for high volume remote voting designed for smartphones and tablets. Clear Ballot, a voting system company, has provided Voatz with knowledge of the election industry, market requirements and a rich sample election dataset. This gives the Voatz team the ability to understand and build support for the difficulties and scale of actual elections taking place.

Nimit Sawhney, co-founder and CEO of Voatz said, however, that the companies need to realize that several questions must be addressed before remote voting on a large scale is possible.

“These include end-to-end verification, voter anonymity, authentication, security, cost, ease of deployment, scalability, user experience and most importantly – public trust.”

The two companies are hoping that this advance in remote voting through the blockchain will bring convenience and added trust to voters when it matters most all through an app on their smartphones. With a sample ballot on their smartphone a voter will only need to bring their phone with them when the polls open; however, it’s projected that through an app built on the blockchain voters won’t have to make the trip to polls in the future.

Voting on the Blockchain

Using the blockchain to secure voting is not a new thing.

In the past there have been several organizations launching blockchain voting services aimed at tackling the issue of voter confidence in elections.

In October of last year, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) developed an e-voting platformbased on the blockchain technology. Through this service it gave shareholders of listed companies on the exchange the opportunity to vote during annual general meetings.

New York University Tandon School of Engineering also unveiled a blockchain voting systemafter concerns were raised over whether the 2016 election was pushed in President Donald Trump’s favor.

While at the beginning of 2017 Nasdaq too has emerged with its own e-voting platform using the blockchain technology.

Voting for millions of people around the world is the one time they can democratically vote for who they believe will be the best leader for their country. If, however, they have no confidence in the voting system, what’s stopping them from not voting if they feel the systems are being cheated?

With the blockchain, though, it provides an answer to maintaining the integrity of voter confidence when its needed the most.

Source: cryptocoinsnews

France’s Central Bank to Launch a Blockchain Innovation Lab

The Banque de France has revealed that it is opening a blockchain innovation lab as it seeks to work more with blockchain startups.

In a speech [PDF] presented by Banque de France governor Villeroy de Galhau last month at the Paris FinTech Forum, and published recently, the central bank explained that more work needs to be done with the blockchain.

According to Galhau, ‘the digital revolution is creating challenges but also incredible opportunities that are just waiting to be seized, whether by FinTechs themselves, by the entire financial system or by the French and European economy as a whole.’

In a bid to boost the FinTech sector within the country, the governor said that officials are opening a new blockchain innovation lab. According to the French central bank, it has already welcomed over 100 key innovators since the creation of its FinTech Innovation Unit. It has also set up a FinTech Forum with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) to increase the bank’s interaction with innovators.

By doing so, it plans on working alongside startups giving them the freedom to think outside the box.

Galhau understands that the digital revolution is disrupting traditional banks with its customers’ needs. So much so, that according to the French bank, in 2007 62 percent of French people visited their branch several times a month. In 2016, that number had fallen to as low as 20 percent with 13 percent belonging to the 18-34 age group.

He said:

Beyond customer relationships, financial companies need to take a more comprehensive approach if they are to succeed in the digital transition – placing innovation at the heart of their strategic management, as well as rethinking their business models.

Despite not providing more information as to when the blockchain innovation lab will launch, Galhau finished by saying:

“Rest assured we are fully mobilised towards this goal.”

French Bank Conducts Blockchain Experiment

In December, the central bank revealed details about a discreet blockchain experiment that it had undertaken in October.

The bank announced that it had tested the distributed ledger to understand the consequences of decentralizing ledger managing functions of SEPA credit identifier, a simplified version of cross-border Euro transfers within the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).

It was conducted in partnership with Parisian FinTech startup Labo Blockchain and the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, which is a French public sector financial institution under parliament’s control and seen as the investment arm of the French government.

Source: cryptocoinsnews

New York City Law Firm Experiments with Blockchain Smart Contracts

A law firm in New York is reviewing how the use of the blockchain technology can remove many of the manual steps that are required when it comes to executing smart contracts.

The law firm, Hogan Lovells, is considering how smart contracts and the blockchain can automatically execute agreements without the need for human interaction, thus helping to free up lawyers time.

In a blog from the Wall Street Journal, the use of smart contracts will ensure that terms of a contract are enforced in a faster time; however, this also means that there needs to be a closer relationship between the lawyers, clients, and the computer programmers who will be writing the smart contracts.

According to Ted Mlynar, a partner at Hogan Lovells, there is currently a big divide between those involved.

He said:

The programmers think in terms of bits and bytes, while the contracting parties have been doing these types of agreements for years. They don’t understand each other.

To solve the issue of traditional contracts and smart contracts requires a lawyer or lawyers who are able to present the necessary expertise regarding a deal in addition to the technical expertise to understand the code within the smart contract and how they can work together.

For now, though, paper contracts are likely to remain in place for years to come. However, while lawyers are still experimenting with smart contracts, if done right they could potentially present the ideal answer to helping free up lawyers time when it comes to agreements between parties.

Could Smart Contracts Threaten Jobs?

Of course, many think that the use of blockchain-led smart contracts could threaten thousands of jobs.

In June, one of Australia’s top law firms, sent a report to its clients informing them that the future of the business model that lawyers profit from due to an absence of trust in organizations working with each other was under threat from the blockchain and smart contracts.

Others were preparing themselves that the technology was likely to threaten jobs and the role of lawyers intermediating negotiations and disputes.

Another factor to consider is the fact that the use of blockchain and smart contracts brings its own legal issues.

These include how terms are interpreted, how they are written, and how smart contracts interconnect with legal areas already established. It requires lawyers to have the expertise to go through a area, such as the laws governing insurance contracts, and understanding how a blockchain smart contract would work.

It remains to be seen, however, whether the role of smart contracts will be applied in law firms or whether paper contracts will remain the contract of choice.

Source: cryptocoinsnews

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American Express Wants “Full Advantage of Blockchain”, Joins Open-Source Hyperledger Project

Credit card giant American Express has joined the Linux Foundation-led open-source cross-industry blockchain working group, the Hyperledger Project.

In yet another noted example of the traditional financial services industry turning to Fintech’s poster child in blockchain technology, American Express has joined the Hyperledger Project as a ‘Premier’ member.

In a statement, American Express information chief and vice president Marc Gordon said:

We’re excited to join Hyperledger, as we’re looking to take full advantage of blockchain to deliver new and innovative products for our customers and partners, while transforming existing business processes and applications.

With a $250,000 annual membership fee, a premier member will directly contribute the development process of creating open-source enterprise blockchains. Notable examples of premier members providing code to the project include contributions from technology giant IBM & New York-based blockchain startups Digital Asset and R3. The ‘Hyplerledger’ name was previously owned by Digital Asset before it was donated to the Linux Foundation.

“[W]e’re expecting our expertise and global reach to help advance this open source blockchain ecosystem,” Amex executive Marc Gordon added.

Payment Card Giants Tapping Blockchain Tech

The global third in credit card transaction volumes only after Visa and Mastercard, American Express has unsurprisingly paid attention to blockchain technology’s most-known offering, bitcoin. Ken Chenault, chief executive of the payments giant noted bitcoin as a competitor, much like any other payment offering, as early as 2014.

In late 2015, American Express became an investor in Abra, a bitcoin startup and payments network that uses the cryptocurrency for transactions.

Meanwhile, Visa, in December 2015, claimed blockchain technology and bitcoin as a method of payment were “more real than ever” and has since set up an exclusive blockchain development lab in India. More recently, Visa announced its intention to deploy a blockchain-based interbank payments network between European banks.

The world’s largest payments network has also deployed VisaB2B, a blockchain-based solution developed in partnership with industry firm Chain Inc that will challenge the traditional SWIFT messaging network with large volume cross-border transfers.

Not to be left behind, Mastercard unveiled its own set of blockchain APIs in late 2016, after the company’s operations chief revealed ongoing interest in the innovation.

Source: cryptocoinsnews

Indian Automaker Mahindra to Open Blockchain Incubator

Indian multinational and conglomerate Mahindra will set up a blockchain incubator to support startups in the development of blockchain-based applications in a number of industries.

As a conglomerate, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has a foothold as a major automaker in Indiawith exports of vehicles to multiple countries, a presence in finance, IT, finance, consulting and other industries. With its incubator, the aim is to develop blockchain solutions that can be across multiple companies in the Mahindra Group, according to a report in the Business Line.

In quotes reported by the publication, group president for strategy Anish Shah stated:

We are looking at an incubation center for Blockchain, which will be a global center…We are looking at developing a business. We’ve got about 7-10 cases for Blockchain [tech] within the group.

In late 2016, Mahindra partnered tech giant IBM to develop a cloud-based blockchain solution in trade finance for the Indian market. The offering will see all parties involved in a supply chain finance transaction participating on a single shared ledger. A traditionally cumbersome process wherein errors and unpaid dues are commonplace, real-time access to logistics and capital or credit could significantly improve supply chain finance in the country. That particular solution is aimed at small and mid-sized enterprises who are clients with Mahindra Finance, the finance arm of the company.

Blockchain technology could significantly alter supply trade finance for the better in India.

“We started with supply chain and invoice discounting for supply chain,” added Shah. “There are a number of use cases for Mahindra Finance and use cases for auto business and then we can take it forward for other business.”

In a clear indicator of M&M going big on blockchain investment and development, the incubator will be independent of the work being done by Tech Mahindra, a group company of the conglomerate. The latter is also working toward developing Blockchain solutions, as product offerings to its clients. M&M will look to introduce blockchain solutions developed from the incubator into its own working group of companies.

Other similar efforts toward mass blockchain implementation in India sees Yes Bank, a major private sector lender in India announce a multi-node blockchain solution to digitize and automate vendor financing. The proof-of-concept transaction was tested in the real world with a major electrical equipment manufacturer and proved to be successful. The blockchain was hosted on IBM’s cloud platform.

Source: cryptocoinsnews