BLOCKCHAIN
“ PWC ’ S REPORT FOUND THAT 57 % OF THOSE IT SURVEYED WERE UNSURE OR UNWILLING TO MAKE USE OF [ BLOCKCHAIN ], DESPITE AN ALMOST EQUIVALENT AMOUNT ( 56 %) STATING THAT THEY RECOGNISED ITS SIGNIFICANCE ”
54 indicate that , although its value is clear , the majority of companies cannot find a practical use for blockchain .
Whether this stems from perceptions of it being an ‘ untested ’ quantity or simply owing to widespread legacy IT systems which cannot integrate with it , PwC appears certain that those who do not explore utilising blockchain will reap negative outcomes , particularly in terms of higher operational costs : “ Blockchain systems could be far cheaper than existing platforms because they remove an entire layer of overhead dedicated to confirming authenticity . In a distributed ledger system , confirmation is effectively performed by everyone on the network , simultaneously . In FS , that includes those who move money , adjudicate contracts , tax transactions , store information and so on .”
This view is partially corroborated by McKinsey ’ s analysis , which found that 70 % of blockchain ’ s short-term value could be derived from “ cost reduction , followed by revenue generation and capital relief ”, although it clarified that this aspect is less significant for FS than other industries . Therefore , it can be inferred that blockchain , applied exclusively within a short-term strategy , is not necessarily a value-adding approach . Indeed , this may account for
OCTOBER 2020