IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings Explore Block Chain's Potential
The Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group were held in Washington, DC over the weekend and notably, the subject of bitcoin and its underlying technology was brought up for discussion. Some participants likened the digital currency to Esperanto, the language created in 1887 to be an international medium of communication, in that it's a good idea theoretically but that it might not live up to its potential. Others criticised it as a poor store of value, according to a report from Mexican bank Banorte. The bank reports attendees as saying: "Nobody....
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Estonia-based bank LHV has announced a new project that will explore the legal framework and potential uses of bitcoin's block chain technology in banking so it might develop bank services for bitcoin and other digital currencies. "We are interested in the technological side of digital currencies as we hope it could make bank services more simple and efficient," Priit Rum, head of communications at LHV, told CoinDesk. The project manager will examine all digital currencies, not limiting itself to bitcoin. For now, the bank won't engage in trading bitcoin, Rum said, but more likely, could....
USAA, the bank that mainly markets to US military members and their families, is looking into utilizing Bitcoin to their advantage, for the purpose of increased efficiency. The managing director of the Texas-based bank's corporate development, Alex Marquez, told Reuters this past week that the bank would be looking into utilizing the block chain for the purpose of decentralization of some of its operations. Presently USAA has a sizable team investigating uses of the block chain for their the 93-year-old bank. Marquez told Reuters: We have serious interest in the block chain and we think....
Nine of the largest investment banks have partnered with a block chain startup to integrate the block chain into financial services. Barclays, BBVA, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan, State Street, Royal Bank of Scotland, and UBS all formed a partnership with a block chain oriented firm to create industry standards for using block chain technology in banking. The initiative is led by New York and London startup R3, whose CEO David Rutter spent 32-years on Wall Street. Financial Times has reported Goldman Sachs have also partnered with R3. The block chain is a major....
A developing plan in Mexico to create a digital peso could demonstrate the potential of bitcoin technology to the rest of the world, if it's successful. After all, digitizing the currency would be just one part of a greater endeavor to adopt block chain technology into what the project's leader hopes might become a more transparent and trustful bureaucracy and democracy. The plans could have many far-reaching implications for the country's economic and political problems; namely, the remittances market, the tax process and the country's unbanked population. "I'm sure there will be a day....
This weekend private and public sector delegates convened for a panel discussion about technology's role in achieving greater global financial inclusion as part of a four-part seminar series at the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group in Washington, DC. The panelists included Standard Chartered Bank group chief executive Peter Sands. Colombian Minister of Finance and Public Credit Mauricio Cárdenas. Visa global head of strategic partnerships Bill Gajda. JPMorgan Chase global chair of technology, media and telecom and investment banking Jennifer....