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Low hanging fruit

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Low hanging fruit

Our weekly opinion piece and overview
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October 22nd, 2017

Baby steps

Recently announced bank blockchain projects may be modest in scope, but they are beginning to paint a much bigger picture. Find out more in THE TAKEAWAY below.



TOP TRENDS ON COINDESK

Face-off

CoinDesk was at the dueling conferences of Sibos (hosted by Swift) and Swell (hosted by Ripple) in Toronto this week.

At the former, the cross-border payments network appeared to downplay the role of blockchain in its operations, while keynotes and panels of some of its members highlighted progress and potential.

Across town, at star-studded Swell, former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke spoke about blockchain's possibilities, while Tim Berners-Lee – best known for being the inventor of the World Wide Web – warned against expecting too much of blockchain technology. And, of course, bank and startup executives talked about their proofs-of-concept using Ripple's technology.

Overall, snide remarks aside, the message was one of progress on blockchain exploration, with both sides recognizing the potential that still lies ahead, and that what's good for either competitor is also good for the ecosystem as a whole.

Testing, testing

The week seemed to be overflowing with bank blockchain trials.

In Europe, Spanish bank BBVA revealed that it was testing a blockchain platform for the matching of FX trades, together with Mexico's BBVA Bancomer. And French bank BNP completed a blockchain trial aimed at improving internal treasury operations, in conjunction with consulting firm EY.
 
In the U.S., JPMorgan Chase announced the launch of a new interbank payments platform based on its Quorum blockchain, in collaboration with ANZ and the Royal Bank of Canada. And U.S.-based investor services firm Broadridge announced the completion of a blockchain pilot with French banks Natixis and Societe Generale, aimed at recording the details of repo agreements.

Another fork

One of the highlights of the week was ethereum's Byzantium hard fork, which executed on Monday. While things appeared to go smoothly, CoinDesk's Rachel Rose O'Leary explained why a few days later developers were still not ready to call the operation complete.

CoinDesk spoke to Gavin Wood – founder and CTO of Parity Technologies, one of the leading ethereum clients – about the process of hard forks and how they can go more smoothly.

And, of course, ethereum hard forks come with controversy, with movements afoot to launch new cryptocurrencies using the old ethereum blockchain.
 

 
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
 
"p.s. —You may have noticed that I didn't use the word 'blockchain' in this note. The word now tends to confuse more than enlighten."

– Adam Ludwin, A Letter to Jamie Dimon, Medium
 


THE TAKEAWAY 

While blockchain news may seem flooded these days with bank-sponsored projects either launching or hitting milestones, readers will be forgiven for feeling underwhelmed. There are many big names, true, but the projects themselves seem, in general, small.

This may be largely accurate, but it is misleading.

Puzzle pieces

As everyone knows, finance is a huge field, comprised of a vast array of intersecting and intertwined activities. But it's difficult to appreciate just how complicated it is.

The extent to which each step depends on several others, and the risks inherent in just about every one, highlight the fragility of the current system and point to how it will evolve.

Take, for example, the report from earlier this week that Spanish bank BBVA is working on a Corda-based pilot to improve foreign exchange (FX) matching.

FX is one of the largest asset groups traded on capital markets around the world. Matching (validating information and pairing buy and sell orders) is, however, just one step in FX trading, and does not even touch the concept of settlement and payment.

However, a blockchain-based process could, in theory, enhance platform compatibility, reduce the amount of errors and make the process more transparent, lowering trading costs and supporting liquidity.

Start small, aim high

As another example, this past week French bank BNP revealed that it is working on a blockchain-based platform to improve corporate action announcements, such as dividend payments and stock splits. Note that the actual payments and splits will not themselves be executed on the platform – it just aims to improve the verifiable and unhackable delivery of the information.

While this may not sound like a big deal, it is: corporate actions typically affect the value of a security, and errors (one recent study showed that almost 10% contain factual inaccuracies, and over 20% were incomplete) can produce material losses.

If you look at other bank-related news from the past few weeks, you'll see a similar trend: big names in finance looking at potential blockchain impact on relatively small parts of their activities.

But the small parts generally have big impacts – they provide the "plumbing" that makes the flashier aspects of finance run smoothly. Making them more efficient will have a direct effect on other parts of the system, including the banks' bottom line.

Nevertheless, this may seem like a cautious "dipping of the toe" into blockchain waters. Where are the grand goals? Where is the more resilient financial structure that the new technology promised?

Building blocks

It is slowly emerging, through piecemeal trials and tentative implementations. This is how the "blockchainization" of finance will happen. Bit by little bit.

Banks are not going to "think big" with such a new and relatively untested concept. Nor should they, given their operations' systemic importance.

Modest trials, on the other hand, are not only an opportunity for financial institutions to test the technology within a manageable scope and budget. They are also the only process regulators will allow – a sweeping shift in how information and value is handled will no doubt frighten the overseers into taking preventive measures. Small steps, each rigorously tested, are unlikely to set off alarms.

Also, this approach is scalable. If, for instance, BBVA finds that the blockchain platform for FX matching provides tangible positive results, the test can be opened up to other banks, and can be expanded to include other financial assets.

The small connections, when put together, will make up the big picture – by implementing improvements, step by step, and then scaling where possible. And the focused projects that today seem limited will one day coalesce to reveal the full potential of a new way of handling finance.

Meanwhile, we should pay attention to the baby steps – we will soon see that they're not so baby after all.

- Noelle

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Beyond CoinDesk...

OTHERS ARE TALKING ABOUT

The explosion of mainstream press coverage of the blockchain sector over the past few months is staggering. Here we only have space to highlight a few of the best articles we've encountered over the week.
 
Quartz took us on a riveting tour of a bitcoin vault. TechCrunch ran an overview of the blockchain ecosystem, broken down by category. The MIT Technology Review looked at energy grids on a blockchain. And Vanity Fair cast its eye on cryptocurrency investment.
 
In the financial press, the FT looked at crypto-derivatives and reviewed Wall Street's love-hate relationship with bitcoin. The Wall Street Journal and Reuters reported on the skirmish at Tezos. Bloomberg warned of the use of cryptocurrencies by authoritarian regimes. And Finance Magnates wondered what blockchain-based democracy would look like.

UPCOMING EVENTS (see more in our full listing)  

WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO

Drumroll…. The most anticipated survey in blockchain is out! CoinDesk has published its "Most Influential People in Blockchain" poll, and I know you want to see who's in the running…

This year we've split it up into various sections, to reflect the growth and spread of the work going on in the sector.

What we need from you is your vote – in each section, you can select up to three people you think deserve the title of "Most Influential." You have until Nov 3. We know it's going to be a tough choice, but we can't wait to see the results. I bet you can't, either.
 
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