Demystifying Blockchain

When it comes to blockchain, the hype cycle is over and the valley of disillusionment is dead ahead. Blockchain — which has captured the imagination, not to mention the funding, of the financial services industry now needs to deliver real-world material benefits. The good news is that there are in fact a great deal of benefits available for blockchain to capture within the capital markets industry. And while there is significant foundational work that still needs to happen, a clear vision and execution path for blockchain has emerged.

The image that has emerged is that of blockchain as a next generation data architecture solution. One that not only addresses the massive data replication issues within the post trade landscape, but also provides significant post-trade risk mitigation through the development and dissemination of smart contracts. The advent of blockchain will see a series of community services developed to enable blockchain to function and the path to the network effect is coming sooner than expected.