7 Asian Banks Investigating Bitcoin and Blockchain Tech
Until recently, there was a noticeable lack of interest in bitcoin and the blockchain among the financial institutions of Asia. In fact, banks were more likely to be issuing warnings about digital currencies than getting involved in any related activity. It was the fall of Mt Gox in Japan and the Chinese central bank's crackdown on bitcoin exchanges, events that both took place in 2014 that resulted in early barriers among financial institutions in those nations. However, the recent upsurge in the popularity of blockchain technology in the global finance sector seems to have at least....
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One of the five largest banks in Singapore has tested a blockchain-based payment service, with an eye to develop commercial products around the tech. OCBC Bank used the tech to send funds between its operations in Singapore and Malaysia, as well as transmit money to the Bank of Singapore, a private banking business it owns. The bank said it worked with BCS Information Services, a local payments firm, to develop the prototype. The test is the latest for Asia’s banking sector, the members of which have spent much of the past two years investigating use cases, investing in startups and....
Spanish megabank Santander has been experimenting with blockchain technology. Its head of research and development will discuss applications of the technology at Consensus 2015. Twenty billion dollars a year - that's how much banks could save on cross-border payments, compliance and securities trading if they used blockchain tech to move money and assets around the world, according to a report co-written by Spanish megabank Santander published last month. Julio Faura is one of the Santander executives playing a crucial role in making that massive cost-saving a reality. He commissioned a....
As the calendar turns to February, major global financial institutions are becoming increasingly vocal about the blockchain tech trials taking place in their innovation labs. In recent weeks, UBS has announced experiments with smart bond applications, NRI has discussed investigating distributed ledgers for securities use cases and even JPMorgan, long one of the more bearish among banks on bitcoin and digital currency concepts, revealed it is seeking to evaluate the technology's use for improving trading processes. More unique among these major firms, however, has been Royal Bank of Canada....
Ferdinando Ametrano, a professor at Politecnico di Milano, Italy’s largest tech university, recently criticized the blockchain hype revolving around banks in an interview at the Blockchain Money conference, describing the efforts of banks and financial institutions in creating a blockchain without a native digital currency as nonsensical. Over the past two years, the world’s largest banks and financial institutions have led the development of permissioned blockchain networks and enterprise-grade blockchains for cross-border payments and settlement of asset. Various research firms including....
A few weeks ago, nine large global banks announced their plans to embark on an industry-wide blockchain tech development project. These include the likes of JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Credit Suisse, and UBS. These banks are now joined by thirteen more well-known institutions, namely Bank of America, BNY Mellon, Citi, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, National Australia Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, SEB, Societe Generale, and Toronto-Dominion Bank. Blockchain Tech in Finance. "The addition of this new group of banks demonstrates....