PAYMENTS

The shift towards a blockchain-centric financial industry is accelerating , with the tokenised market capitalisation expected to reach around US $ 2bn by 2030 . Notable adopters , like JPMorgan and BlackRock , leverage blockchain for applications ranging from digital identity verification to trade finance , signalling a robust future for blockchain in banking .

BlackRock CEO , Larry Fink , said earlier this year : “ We believe the next step going forward will be the tokenisation of financial assets , and that means every stock , every bond will be on one general ledger .”

According to a recent McKinsey & Company report , ‘ Tokenised financial assets : Moving from pilot to scale ’, tokenisation has reached a tipping point , setting the stage for at-scale implementations that promise enhanced liquidity , operational efficiencies and new avenues for revenue generation .

What blockchain platform or technology do banks utilise , and why ? Dr . Scott Zoldi , Chief Analytics Officer at FICO , says : “ Some of the most exciting new uses of blockchain are utilising permissioned and private blockchains , such as Hyperledger Fabric , which allows for controlled access , transaction visibility and simpler consensus models .

“ These private blockchains balance control , access and scalability concerns compared to traditional public blockchains . Banks focus on the right level of access , consensus and protections while balancing the costs and benefits of using blockchain technology ,” Zoldi adds .

Nick Jones , Founder and CEO of Zumo , observes the varied adoption of blockchain platforms among banks . “ Different banks are using different platforms for a growing range of use cases as their interest in the technology grows ,” he notes .

HSBC has also implemented a blockchain-based trade finance platform to digitise and streamline operations , specifically using the R3 blockchain platform . The R3 Corda platform , designed for the financial

fintechmagazine . com 103