Can you hear us now? Good. Image: Aite Group
Global law firm White & Case published its insights on the growing interest in blockchain technology, as well as predictions outlining how distributed ledger technology will increase the speed, certainty, and safety of transactions while lowering costs at every level.
The most successful firms will take the opportunity to harness fintech and blockchain technology. Tweet This
The report, titled: “Beyond Bitcoin: The blockchain revolution in financial services,” quotes from research published by Ripple investor Santander that argues that distributed ledger technology can save banks $20 billion per year. It also takes into account Goldman Sachs’ research on the dizzying investments made in blockchain technology and the firm’s own predictions as to how distributed ledgers can remake the financial system from the ground up.
Amidst several examples of how this change could take place, including Nasdaq’s private Linq blockchain network and Overstock.com’s issuance of private bonds via a blockchain mechanism, White & Case made special mention of Ripple’s leading position in the blockchain space:
“[…]Ripple has established a powerful value exchange platform over which financial institutions can exchange, in real-time, currency, cryptocurrency, commodities and other tokens of value, without relying on traditional intermediaries of the international financial system, such as the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT).”
It’s common for reports like these to take a bullish stance on blockchain, but White & Case takes that final step between observing interest and investment and projecting future success based on adoption:
“We stand at a time when we can predict with reasonable certainty a multitude of changes and developments from blockchain-based solutions. Now, at the advent of the blockchain revolution, the challenge that lies ahead for financial services and fintech firms may not be so much fashioning solutions as it is identifying the problems that will require new and innovative thinking. The most successful firms will be those that take advantage of these opportunities to harness fintech and the blockchain revolution.”
Read the full report here.
