The Digital Trade Chain: the blockchain train is rolling

| 28-7-2017 | Carlo de Meijer |

Trade finance is increasingly becoming the number one use case for blockchain with the greatest potential to benefit from this technology. In previously blocks I already showed the accelerated activity in this area (see: Blockchain and Supply Chain Finance: the missing link May 7, 2017 and Blockchain: accelerated activity in trade Finance, January 26, 2017).

End seven European banks, forming the so-called Digital Trade Chain consortium, announced their plans to develop in collaboration with IBM a trade finance platform based on blockchain technology. This is said to become the first real-world application of blockchain technology and might become the start of more of the blockchain train.

What is the Digital Trade Chain consortium?

In January this year seven European banks (Deutsche Bank, HSBC, KBC, Natixis, Rabobank, Société Générale and UniCredit) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Brussels to create the Digital Trade Chain consortium. Under this MoU the banks intend to collaborate on the development and commercialisation of a shared supply chain management and trade finance platform for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) using blockchain technology. That platform, called the Digital Trade Chain (DTC), should make domestic and cross border commerce easier for European SME business.

The aim of the project is to simplify trade finance processes for SMEs by “addressing the challenge of managing, tracking and securing domestic and international trade transactions.

Read the full article of our expert Carlo de Meijer on LinkedIn

 

Carlo de Meijer

Economist and researcher

 

Stock exchanges and blockchain: open positions

| 18-7-2017 | Carlo de Meijer |

Just like banks, a growing number of exchanges worldwide have already taken a serious look at the way they can leverage blockchain technology. This in order to ‘get rid of’ the existing time consuming, cost inefficient and risky operations. Ranging from Abu Dhabi to Toronto they are experimenting with various use cases ranging from settlement, over-the-counter trading to proxy voting. Others have just started and have or are having hosted blockchain events such as the Jamaica Stock Exchange (Blockchain Masterclass) and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (Hackathon) not wanted to be left behind. In this blog I will make a ‘tour de table’ (in alphabetic order) around the various blockchain-related activities of stock exchanges worldwide.

Exchanges: Tour de Table

Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX)

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) has started implementing blockchain technology, enabling shareholders to participate ‘with further transparency’ while using e-voting techniques. The technology was used recently (end March 2017) at the annual general meetings (AGM) for six listed companies, including two private joint stock companies and four public joint stock companies, on the ADX.

“I encourage companies to use blockchain technology. I am confident that more training and practice of this technology will widen positive outcomes and bring more companies to use this technology. This will go in line with Abu Dhabi 2030 Economic Vision that seeks to strengthen digital transformation in the UAE.”Rashed Al Blooshi, ADX chief executive

Australian Stock Exchange (ASX)

One of the forerunners in the blockchain race is the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). The ASX already announced early 2016 that it had teamed up with blockchain startup Digital Asset Holdings to develop a new distributed ledger solution for investors, listed companies, and intermediaries, for clearing and settling trades. This to replace the existing Clearing House Electronic Subregister System (CHESS).

The exchange has now completed the initial phase of its DLT testing, and their blockchain prototype has ‘met performance, security and scalability thresholds’. The company’s shareholders report, released in February, stated that the ASX is on track for a decision in late 2017 on whether distributed ledger technology (DLT) represents a suitable replacement for the ASX’s CHESS system. The final decision on the company’s post-trade infrastructure will be made in 2018. Only then will a blockchain solution progress into full production

The ASX recently built a dedicated blockchain showcase space, called ‘acceler8’, in their Sydney headquarters. The set-up of a ‘purpose built demonstration suite’ is aimed to ‘bring to life’ the possibilities of distributed ledger technology, to help stakeholders understand what is possible.

“It is one thing to talk about blockchain, but in order to really understand its capabilities, you need to see it in action.” Peter Hiom, ASX deputy CEO

Deutsche Börse Group

Deutsche Börse Group has been making substantial investments in the development and introduction of ‘state-of-the-art’ blockchain services. The German exchange is working on several prototypes related to blockchain technology and DLT.

Recent developments include a solution for cross-border securities transfer in cooperation with the Liquidity Alliance and a functioning prototype for the settlement of securities transactions in cooperation with Deutsche Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank.

Deutsche Börse and Deutsche Bundesbank presented their first functional prototype for the blockchain technology based settlement of securities transactions against instant and delayed payments in November 2016. This concept is based on a blockchain from the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger project, and will allow for functionality for the settlement of securities in a delivery-versus-payment mode for centrally-issued digital coins (as collateral).

“Along with the Deutsche Bundesbank we are innovatively and creatively addressing potentially radical technological opportunities for the financial sector. We will continue to do our utmost to leverage blockchain’s efficiency potential and to better understand and minimize the associated risks of this technology.” Carsten Kengeter, CEO of Deutsche Börse

The system will also be capable of settling basic corporate actions such as coupon payments on securities and the redemption of maturing securities. Next to that the prototype will enable the maintenance of confidentiality and access rights, which will be done in a blockchain-based concept on the basis of a flexible and adaptable rights framework.

The Deutsche Bundesbank and Deutsche Börse stated that they plan to further develop the prototypes during 2017. They said that the developed products will be used to “analyse the technical performance and the scalability of this kind of blockchain applications”.

Euronext and others develop blockchain infrastructure for SME post trade

Euronext (Amsterdam, Paris and Brussels) and a number of financial institutions including names like BNP Paribas Securities Services, Caisse des Dépôts, Euroclear, S2iEM and Société Générale, in collaboration with Paris EURPLACE, last year June signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore together the development of a post-trade blockchain infrastructure for SMEs in Europe.

“We wanted to engage collaboratively in order to mount an innovative project with the potential to drive the transformation of the post-trade market. By pooling our strengths in this ground-breaking area, we are focusing on new solutions that will give small and mid-sized companies — key actors for growth in Europe – easier access to the financing they need. With this project, we are securing the means to seize opportunities that blockchain distribution can offer: speed of execution, low cost and security.”

Open to other international partners, this pilot agreement aims to improve SMEs’ access to capital markets while facilitating secure and transparent post-trade operations. It is part of the development of a new regulatory environment in France that allows the issue and circulation of securities using blockchain technology.

Mission will be to harness blockchain technology in the design, development and deployment of innovative solutions for post-trade. By reducing transaction costs while maintaining a high level of security, the company would help SMEs raise funds more easily on capital markets.

National Stock Exchange of India (NSE)

The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE), HDFC Securities, along with a group of domestic Indian banks are collaborating on a know-your-customer (KYC) data trial, testing blockchain technology. Blockchain startup Elemential provided the technology for the trial. 

The NSE has been testing the tech since as early as September last year. The test involved a shared environment in which the stock exchange would on-board customer data, while different entities (banks and regulators) could access this information in real-time. The first stage of the trial was completed in January. The next stage is expected to see the use of real customer data.

Japan Exchange Group (JPX)

Early last year, it was revealed that IBM had teamed up with Japan Exchange Group (JEX), which operates the Tokyo exchange, to start experimenting with blockchain technology for clearing and other operations. The Japan Exchange Group (JPX) and IBM are working towards testing the potential of blockchain technology for use in trading in low transaction markets. JPX is embracing a proof-of-concept that is investigating how blockchain could be used to create new systems for the trading of low-liquidity assets.

They had run two separate trials and concluded that digital ledger technology “has the potential to transform capital market structure by encouraging new business development, improving operation efficiency, and contributing to cost reduction”.

JPX is also working on trials with Nomura Research Institute (NRI) to examine how blockchain technology could be applied in the securities market.

Korea Exchange Exchange (KRX)

South Korea’s securities exchange operator the Korea Exchange (KRX) launched a blockchain-powered platform for the off-board trading market, linking sellers and buyers to trade securities. This platform named Korea Start-up Market (KSM), is an OTC- platform for using blockchain technology to enable equity shares of startup companies to be traded in the open market. South Korea’s exchange was revealed to be developing a blockchain platform to facilitate securities trading between buyers and sellers, directly, as early as March 2016.

The new feature will see its roll-out by implementing a blockchain platform called ‘Coinstack’, developed by Korean startup Blocko. With a focus on document and identity authentication, Coinstack is serviced both via cloud and on location, while supporting all protocols and applications build on the blockchain technology.

“This is the first example of commercialization in which blockchain is applied to the Korean over-the-counter market. Notably, the Coinstack development platform supports both Bitcoin blockchain-based contracts and Ethereum-based smart contracts.” Blocko CEO Won-Beom Kim

London Stock Exchange (LSE)

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has emerged as one of the most active on blockchain technology. In late 2015, the exchange was already among a cross-industry group of institutions investigating how blockchain technology could be used to change the way securities trades are cleared, settled and reported in Europe. The group — named Post Trade Distributed Ledger Working Group — also includes UBS, CME Group, Societe Generale, LCH.Clearnet and Euroclear. The consortium, which is particularly interested in using blockchain for post-trade processes, now has nearly 40 members.

If you want to read about more stock exchanges please refer to the full list in Carlo de Meijer’s article on LinkedIn.

Open positions of exchanges towards blockchain technology

The number of exchanges worldwide that is joining the many financial institutions in the blockchain and distributed ledger technology race is continuously growing. The potential to enable stock exchanges to significantly reduce the cost, complexity and increase the speed of trading and settlement processes in a secure manner, has attracted many exchanges worldwide to explore this new technology. However, it remains to be seen whether blockchain will soon be accepted by exchanges on a large scale and form the backbone of future stock exchanges. This given the many remaining challenges. But the optimism is certainly high. For the time being stock exchanges are taken open positions.

 

Carlo de Meijer

Economist and researcher

 

The EU and blockchain: taking the lead? (II)

|6-7-2017 | Carlo de Meijer | treasuryXL |

In his article ‘The EU and blockchain: taking the lead? ‘, our expert Carlo de Meijer writes that the EU, after having a ‘wait and see’ attitude for a long time, seems to be taking steps (may be) to become one of the leading economic blocks in the blockchain race. He believes that it is worthwhile to take a closer look at the EU initiatives. We have made a summary of this article. In part (I) we dealt with the European Commission. Today we present you the summary of what Carlo de Meijer writes about the European Parliament, the European Central Bank and the European Supervisory Authorities.

European Parliament

European Parliament  votes for smart regulation of blockchain technology

Last year June the European Parliament voted for ‘smart regulation’ of blockchain technology, taking a hands-off approach. The MEPs voted in a proposal set out in a resolution drafted by Jakob von Weizsäcker, suggesting that a new task force established at the EU level which would be overseen by the European Commission, should build expertise in the underlying technology. It would also be tasked with recommending any necessary legislation, but the text warns against taking a ”heavy-handed approach” to this new technology.
The proposal clearly stated that distributed ledger technology should not be stifled by regulation at this early stage.

EPRS blockchain report

In February the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) published a new report “How blockchain technology could change our lives”, providing an introduction for those “curious about blockchain technology” and aimed at stimulating reflection and discussion.

“Spotlight on Blockchain” workshop

In collaboration with the European Commission, the European Parliament has organised various blockchain events including a kick-off conference on “Demystifying Blockchain” and a series of workshops to look at blockchain developments and use case applications.
A session of discussion early May held at the European Parliament (EP) centred on the future of blockchain regulation in the 28-nation economic bloc. The “Spotlight on Blockchain” workshop, was hosted jointly by the European Parliament and the European Commission.
Part of the program initiated by the Blockchain Observatory was to cautiously approach the who, what and why of blockchain legislation.

European Central Bank

Report: Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) – challenges and opportunities for financial market infrastructures

The European central bank (ECB) has led a study to analyse the benefits and risks of blockchain technology and consider its possible integration in its market infrastructure. The final report named Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) – challenges and opportunities for financial market infrastructures was published in March this year.

In the report the ECB acknowledges the various benefits of DLT, such as the ability to lower back office costs and improve reconciliations by enabling automatic updates of records as well as shortening settlement cycles and therefore reducing collateral requirements.
The ECB however concluded that the distributed ledger technology does not (yet) meet the Bank’s requirements in terms of safety and efficiency. The bank is not firmly opposed to blockchain, but it considers that the technology is not mature enough to be integrated into its infrastructure as it is constantly evolving, citing deficiencies in safety and security. The report’s tone is in keeping with the ECB’s cautious approach to DLT and mirrors previous statements made by bank executives.
The European Central Bank has ruled out using distributed ledger technology within the so-called Eurosystem’s market infrastructure for the foreseeable future, until the software meets high safety and reliability standards.

“Yet the technology does not yet meet the ECB’s standards for safety and efficiency, says the report” “The ECB is open to considering new ways to enhance its market infrastructure. However, any technology-based innovation would have to meet high requirements in terms of safety and efficiency.

DLT Project Team

Nonetheless, the ECB is keeping its options open, recognising the benefits that the technology could bring to securities settlement. To this end, the ECB has created a DLT Task Force to “bring together market experts on financial innovation and cyber security. Its objective is to avoid any negative consequences of technological innovation regarding the harmonisation and integration of post-trade markets in Europe and to explore the potential of DLT to help remove some of the remaining barriers to a fully integrated post-trade market in Europe”. For that they hired a senior technology executive, Dirk Bullman, with practical experience in distributed ledger applications and front and back office project management expertise

T2S

The ECB will continue to monitor DLT’s developments and could use the technology in the administration of Target2Secrities. The report states that DLT could play an important role in the administration of Target2Secrities, as well as helping to achieve its overall aim of “deeper integration of financial markets”.
Bullmann’s group is now exploring how DLT could be used in its new securities clearance platform T2S. Central securities depositories (CSDs) that participate in T2S today can effectively pool their securities so they can be bought and sold by investors across Europe. Since some technology would need to be selected in standardizing the issuance, Bullmann said DLT was a natural candidate for testing.

ECB – Bank of Japan joint initiative

The ECB has also launched a joint research project with the Bank of Japan in December last year to study the impact of new innovations of the global financial market and explore possible use of blockchain technology for market infrastructure services.
Bullmann’s task now is to coordinate with the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to explore topics such as how financial market participants could send payments using the technology, prioritizing how a certain payment might be cleared, for instance.

European Supervisory Authorities

The joint committee of the European Supervisory Authorities has released a report in April on Risks and Vulnerabilities in the EU Financial System, in which cybersecurity, including the rising use of blockchain technology, is marked as a major concern for the financial sector.

While further study is required before the EU submits new regulation regarding the financial sector and FinTech adoption, also the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has undertaken a study of cyber risk and controls of financial institutions throughout the EU. These results will be analyzed in light of existing regulations and used in making future recommendations. In June the ESMA publicized its response to the commission’s proposal on FinTech regulation following a public consultation.

ESMA and regulation

The ESMA, has stated in a new report that the current regulatory framework in effect does not pose a hurdle for the adoption and development of blockchain or distributed ledger technology in the short term. The report acknowledges the benefits of adopting blockchain before notably adding that blockchain applications are still at a nascent stage and, as such, do not require regulation. Regulatory action for blockchain technology at this ‘early stage’ is ‘premature’, said the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in its report.

The ESMA states that it does not see blockchain technology, through its fundamental core concept of decentralization, post a threat to central financial market infrastructures. The ESMA deems it “unlikely” that blockchain technology would eliminate financial market infrastructures such as Central Securities Depositories (CSDs) and Central Counterparties (CCPs). Still, the watchdog says it “realizes” that blockchain technology may render some traditional processes redundant, or affect and “change the role of some intermediaries through time”

ESMA adds that the presence of blockchain technology “does not liberate users from complying with the existing regulatory framework, which provides important safeguards for the well-functioning of financial markets.” The ESMA will continue to monitor developments in the Fintech space, to assess if blockchain technology requires a regulatory response.

European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA)

The European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA) also entered into the blockchain debate with a report launched in December 2016 aimed to provide financial professionals in both business and technology roles with an assessment of the various benefits and challenges that their institutions may encounter when implementing a distributed ledger.
ENISA analysed the technology and identified security benefits, challenges and good practices. There are however new challenges that the technology brings, like consensus hijacking and smart contract management. Additionally, it highlights that public and private ledger implementations will face different sets of challenges.

ENISA has identified good practices to overcome the issues identified as well as introduce the key concepts that decision-makers should be aware of when approaching this technology. Some good practices are: using recovery keys; using multiple signatures for authorizing and processing transactions; and, using library of standardized smart contracts.

In this paper, they also identified that there are challenges that may require further development, such as: anti-money and anti-fraud tools; interoperability of blockchain protocols; and, legal provisions and tools for implementing privacy and the right to be forgotten.

You can read the full article by clicking on this link.

 

Carlo de Meijer

Economist and researcher

 

 

The EU and blockchain: taking the lead? (I)

| 3-7-2017 | Carlo de Meijer | treasuryXL |

In his article ‘The EU and blockchain: taking the lead? ‘, our expert Carlo de Meijer writes that the EU, after having a ‘wait and see’ attitude for a long time, seems to be taking steps (may be) to become one of the leading economic blocks in the blockchain race. He believes that it is worthwhile to take a closer look at the EU initiatives. We have made a summary of this article and start with the European Commission.

European Commission

#Blockchain4EU Project

Last week the European Commission’s Joint Research Center (JRC), together with The Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship, and SMEs, have announced the launching of the #Blockchain4EU Blockchain for Industrial Transformations initiative to develop industrial use cases for blockchain and DLT.
The project, which will run until February 2018, will take a look at how blockchain technology and other distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) can be applied to nonfinancial sectors.

The project’s objective is to identify, discuss and communicate possible uses and impacts of blockchain and other DLT objects, networks and services within EU industrial or business contexts. The project will thereby initially focus exclusively on logistical and validation use cases, such as supply chains, assets monitoring, intellectual property rights, and certification authentication. Outputs from the project will contribute to the risks and opportunities assessment that will ultimately outline the approach that Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) will take with blockchain and DLT applications in the future.

Virtual currency legislation

Last year July the European Commission adopted a proposal for legislation to amend the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (4AMLD) that will bring virtual currency exchanges and wallet providers into the EU’s anti-money laundering framework. In this proposal only those engaged in exchanging between virtual and fiat currencies are included. Virtual currency to virtual currency exchanges are not covered (for example, Bitcoin-to-Ether exchanges will not be regulated). And only those wallet providers offering custodial services “of credentials necessary to access virtual currencies” are to be included in the legislation.
The proposal is now under the European Council and the EP. Member states will have to transpose the Directive into national law and that is expected by half 2018.

EC February Statement on blockchain

In February this year the European Commission Vice President Andres Ansip published an official statement in reaction to EP questions, saying that “the Commission is planning to grow its support for blockchain projects”, and that ”the Commission is actively monitoring Blockchain and DLT developments”. This statement went into detail about the efforts the Commission is undertaking, both within and beyond the scope of the task force (see below), highlighting potential technology pilots focused on ‘decentralised innovation ecosystems”.

The Commission is already supporting [distributed ledger tech]-enabled projects (DECODE, D-Cent, MyHealth MyData). Support activities are going to increase in the coming months (e.g. Decentralised Data Management). A study will be launched to investigate how DLT can help in reshaping public services and preparing for EU specific DLT actions to address relevant EU challenges.” Andres Ansip

The Commission has set up an internal FinTech Task Force, following a report on virtual currencies from European Parliament Member Jakob von Weizsäcker, published in May 2016. This Task Force involves all relevant services working on financial regulation, technology, data and competition to ensure “that our assessment reflects the multi-disciplinary approach that FinTech developments ask for”.

Blockchain Observatory

The European Commission (EC) established/set up a European Union (EU) Blockchain Observatory in April this year in response to a European Parliament mandate to strengthen technical expertise and regulatory capacity. The EU blockchain observatory is being developed under the framework of the European Commission’s Task Force on FinTech. It is expected to deliver its final recommendations in the course of this year.
The observatory task is to create a platform for the European blockchain community and provide up-to-date information on relevant initiatives around the world as well as development of the technology and related opportunities and challenges. Aim is to assist the EC in determining what role – if any – public authorities can play to encourage the creation of such technologies and to develop policy recommendations.

Blockchain proof-of-concept on blockchain

According to a Communication of February this year addressed to EU institutions including the European Parliament and the European Central Bank, the European Commission wants to create a Blockchain proof-of-concept focused on regulation.
A pilot project is aimed at reinforcing the capacity and technical expertise of national regulators with regard to distributed ledger technology. The pilot would center on improving knowledge and awareness of the technology among the EU’s regulatory community. For that purpose the Commission launched a public consultation effort on financial technology more broadly, one that is seeking input on how it can improve market efficiency and accessibility. This consultation focused on three areas: increasing consumer trust and empowerment reduce legal and regulatory obstacles; and, support developments of ‘and innovative digital world’.

As for next steps, the Blockchain Observatory will continue to engage industry representatives to get a feel for where to focus their regulatory efforts.

You can read the full article by clicking on this link. The second part of our summary will be published soon.

 

Carlo de Meijer

Economist and researcher

 

Blockchain technology by 2018: A breakthrough

| 19-6-2017 | Carlo de Meijer |

Last year August I wrote a blog on what to expect for 2017. Now we are halfway 2017, so it is time to look forward to next year: 2018. According to the Gartner Hype Cycle we are now in the “Trough of Despair” stage. That indicates that we have left the overhyped period behind us, and entered a more realistic period with real-world applications. Some see this market as the classic S-curve: periods of little news flow, followed by a significant market-moving announcement, a significant uptick in activity followed by another plateau.

What did I forecast for 2017?

1. We are beyond the hype

2. Focus on blockchain integration

3. Private blockchain networks

4. Use cases will be further broadened to non-financial applications

5. Blockchain technology will become more mature enabling better and more secure application …

6. …… and also directly chained solutions

7. In 2017 we will see real-world applications

8. The year of the smart contracts

9. Growing competition for blockchain platforms

10. Increased discussion about standards

11. Security gets priority

12. Regulators enter the scene

What may we expect for 2018?

A lot is happening in the blockchain arena. And many announcements are being made of new proof of concepts, and initiatives in a large number of areas. But does that mean that 2018 will be the year of the breakthrough of blockchain? Let’s look what the various organisations think. That could give some indications.

Accenture

First of all Dutch-based consultancy Accenture. According to them, the years 2015 and 2016 focused on research and proof of concepts (PoC’s ) in a broad spectrum of blockchain use cases. But for 2017 – 2018 the organisation expects Dutch banks will concentrate on a number of real-world application areas and use cases. Thereby the focus will be on solutions that are ripe for commercialisation. During these years blockchain will develop in the banking world form promise to a valuable solution, Accenture expects.

Banking group: Blockchain to be “widely adopted by 2018“

Another interesting initiative is that of Deutsche Bank, UBS, Santander und BNY Mellon. They have announced a blockchain product cooperation and develop a digital currency of their own, to be market ready by 2018. According to the group, reliable, ready-to-run products across industries will have a positive business case within the next few years. “By that time, we will not even notice that Blockchain is the enabling technology anymore. It will have matured enough to promote itself in widely accepted, evolutional steps rather than in a disruptive, revolutionary manner”.

BTMU plans international fund transfers via blockchain in 2018

Also worthwhile to mention is the cooperation between Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) and six other international banking groups, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Standard Chartered Bank of the U.K., Royal Bank of Scotland, Spain’s Banco Santander, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Australia’s Westpac Banking. They will launch a faster and lower-cost cross-border wiring service that uses blockchain, in 2018. US start-up Ripple will thereby provide blockchain technology. This group will initially offer the global blockchain transfer service to individuals in early 2018, and then slowly expand to corporate clients.

Capco

According to financial service business and technology consultant Capco, 2018 will be the year blockchain technology comes into production. The company names lending, CDS swap trade and post-trade lifecycle, trade finance and business-to-business payments as some of the areas that would first benefit from blockchain technology. This is supported by the many announcements by the industry of “movements from small proof of concepts within innovation centres of financial institutions, to C-level mandated proof of concepts supported by actual business cases and a roadmap into production”.

DTCC to Adopt Blockchain Tech by 2018

Also in the US blockchain developments are challenging. The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) announced that it plans to go live with its blockchain-powered credit default swaps (CDS) reporting platform in the first quarter of 2018. The project to rebuild its existing credit derivatives clearing platform using distributed ledger technology started in January 2017 with the help of fintech startup Axoni, technology giant IBM and the R3 blockchain banking consortium. It aims to improve its process by revamping its Trade Information Warehouse using distributed ledger technology to increase operational efficiencies. The DTCC’s new CDS reporting solution will launch in shadow mode and run alongside currently existing post-trade infrastructure. It will allow multiple financial institutions to view and update transactions at the same time.

IBM study: 90% of governments plans to invest in blockchain by 2018

According to a recent IBM Blockchain research report titled “Building trust in government – Exploring the potential of Blockchains”, government organizations across the globe are exploring use cases for blockchains that can impact their jurisdictions. The IBM Institute for Business Value surveyed 200 government leaders in 16 countries on their experiences and expectations with Blockchains.

One of the outcomes was that nine in ten government organizations plan to invest in Blockchain for use in financial transaction management, asset management, contract management and regulatory compliance by 2018. And seven in ten government executives predict Blockchain will significantly disrupt the area of contract management, which is often the intersection of the public and private sectors.

Infosys study : one third of banks expect commercial blockchain adoption in 2018

A study by Infosys Finacle, a global leader in technology service & consulting, that polled over 100 business and technology leaders at more than 75 financial institutions across the world revealed that, while 50% of banks are already investing in blockchain or will do so in 2017. These investments not only support blockchain initiatives, but also explore use cases beyond the traditional realm of cross-border remittances, clearing, and settlement. Banks are now moving towards commercial adoption, and one in every three banks expects to see commercial adoption by 2018. While 50% of the surveyed banks expected to see mainstream commercial adoption only by 2020. Cross-border remittances, digital identity management, clearing and settlement, letter of credit processes, and syndication of loans are the most likely candidates for commercial adoption.

McKinsey

McKinsey, the world-wide management consultancy firm, recently submitted a blockchain Technology report to the US Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance. The firm analysed how the technology may disrupt a range of industries, emphasizing banking and insurance, and predicts commercial deployment of blockchain technology at scale by the year 2021. The firm states that more mature businesses using the technology have now entered the market, and over a hundred blockchain solutions have been explored. The firm expects 20 to 30 proof-of-concept use cases for blockchain technology to be tested in 2018, with 10 to 20 successful business cases surviving and deployed commercially by late 2020.

Thailand adoption of blockchain technology by 2018

As the blockchain technology continues to expand and take root and expand, Thailand also stands to see its widespread adoption in the country. According to the Bangkok Post, a number of sectors, including finance will adopt this new technology by the year 2018. Blockchain specialist Bhume said that the country is poised to see the technology take over banking and financial services in the near future.

“The adoption of blockchain technology is expected to be widely seen here by 2018, thanks to its capability of transferring valued assets with trustworthiness, transparency and security.” Bhume Bhumiratana, Bangkok Post.

What do I expect?

We are beyond the hype, a growing number of private blockchains arrived, use cases are further broadened to non-financial applications, and we see the first real-world applications. But still a large number of things have to be realised. We also see some disappointments like Project Jasper in Canada that sees many challenges to overcome before realisation. Bank-based collaboration R3CEV has lost a number of its founding members. That means we have entered the reality stage. But that is also a breakthrough!

 

Carlo de Meijer

Economist and researcher

 

What is the Blockchain and why you should care

| 7-6-2017 | Carlo de Meijer | treasuryXL |

You might visit this site, being a treasury professional with years of experience in the field. However you could also be a student or a businessman wanting to know more details on the subject, or a reader in general, eager to learn something new. The ‘Treasury for non-treasurers’ series is for readers who want to understand what treasury is all about. Our expert Carlo de Meijer is a blockchain specialist and tells us more about this new technology.

Blockchain

Blockchain is an immutable digital database or ‘distributed ledger’ that allows multiple parties to  transfer and store information (records) securely and reliably, shared via a peer-to-peer network of computers. There are public (or permissionless) blockchains where everybody is free to participate and private (or permissioned) distributed ledgers where only selected parties may enter the network.
The ledger is maintained collectively by all participants in the blockchain system based on a set of generally agreed and strictly applied rules.  It enables digital transactions to be validated quickly and to be securely maintained through cryptography, computational power and network users without the need  for a trusted third party.
In addition to transactions, blockchain has also the ability to run so-called smart contracts, to be coded and connected in such a way that the contract automatically executes an event if certain preconditions are met. Smart contracts could be used in real estate transactions to transfer title and release escrow when ownership is confirmed. Peer-to-peer insurance is potentially another use case.

Main characteristics

What are the main characteristics of a blockchain?
Blockchain has special qualities that makes it better than traditional databases: trusted, decentralised, shared, secure and automated.
·         Trusted: the distributed nature of the network requires computers servers to reach consensus, which allows for transactions to occur between unknown parties in a trusted way.
·         Decentralised: Blockchain allows to trade directly with any counterparty in a secure, fast and cost effective way, without making use of a central authority or third party intermediaries (middlemen) to approve transactions and set rules.
·         Shared: servers or nodes, maintain the entries (known as blocks) and every node sees the transaction data stored in the blocks when created. Each counterparty has its own copy of the same ledger. It allows anyone to obtain an accurate view.
·         Secure: the database is built to be immutable and irreversible, which means that there is inherent security. Posts to the ledger cannot be revised or tampered with. The information is tamper-proof and visible for all parties involved.
·         Automated: Software is used to generate and record information about the transaction (when it took place, and the chronological order of all transactions). This results in a chain of information, stored in a so-called block; hence the name blockchain.

Use cases

What are use cases for blockchain?
As the blockchain can be used to store and send anything of value, applications may be numerous. These do not limit to financial transactions such as payments, remittances, supply chain finance, securities settlement, stock trading etc. The potential may well be beyond the financial sector ranging from securing  intellectual property, health records, land registry and ownership records, marriage contracts, identity management, voting records, vehicle registries, tax collection etc.
What are the benefits of blockchain?

Conclusion

There are many benefits to be gained from using blockchain technology. Immutability, coupled with its immediacy, assured provenance  and transparency are core blockchain attributes. Removing the middlemen for transaction increases the speed and eliminates transaction fees for consumers and institutions alike. Other business benefits are also relatively easy to imagine, such as in facilitating identity authentication, privacy, access management, regulatory compliance.

 

Carlo de Meijer

Economist and researcher

 

Blockchain hyperledger Project: Collaboration pays off

| 1-6-2017 | Carlo de Meijer |

Recently, I wrote that smaller blockchain consortia are needed. See my blog: Towards smaller and more focused blockchain consortia in  27 February 2017. The Hyperledger Project however may be the exception.

Umbrella

Things look quite good for the Hyperledger Project, described as being an “umbrella” for the developer communities to work on creating open source blockchain and related technologies. The Project receives even more interest from different organizations and industries than ever before since the start of this year. Their collaborative effort seems also to be paying off as the Hyperledger Project recently announced the upcoming release of its first production-ready blockchain: Fabric. And Hyperledger feels “there are still plenty of use cases waiting to be explored”.

The Hyperledger Project

Hyperledger Project is a global collaborative cross-industry effort created to leverage the emerging blockchain and distributed ledger technology. The Hyperledger project, that announced its first members in February 2016, has grown to more than 120, making it the largest blockchain consortium in the world today. These span various industries including finance, banking, technology, manufacturing, healthcare, and the Internet of Things, among several others, with big names such as IBM, Cisco, Intel, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Wells Fargo, The London Stock Exchange and Accenture. Its latest members reflect all of these different areas as well, indicating the future for blockchain looks even more viable than ever before.
Hyperledger aims to enable its member organizations to build robust, industry-specific applications, platforms and hardware systems based on blockchain technology to support their individual business transactions by creating an enterprise grade, open source distributed ledger framework and code base. The goal is to advance blockchain technology’s use in business by developing both a cross-industry open standard and an open-source development library that would allow businesses to build custom distributed ledger solutions.

New Members

The Hyperledger Project continued its strong momentum in 2017. Early March Hyperledger announced that eleven new members have joined the project. The latest members include: Bank of England, Bitmark, China Merchants Bank, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Initiative for CryptoCurrencies and Contracts (IC3), Kaiser Permanente, Kubique S.p.A., MadHive, Monax, OSCRE and RadarWin Cyber Technology. Hyperledger also announced American Express and Daimler AG as Premier members earlier this year.
“Growth and interest in Hyperledger remain high in 2017. We’re now at 122 members and seeing even more diverse organizations across industry sectors invest their energy and resources in understanding how blockchain technology can strengthen their own business processes. This new set of members’ combined backgrounds and experiences will be invaluable to the community, as we strive to increase production deployments through this year,” Brian Behlendorf, Executive Director of Hyperledger, stated.

Central banks

Interesting is that now also The Bank of England and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston are among the new members of the Hyperledger blockchain initiative. They are the first institutions of their kind to become part of Hyperledger, underlining the big interest of these institutions in the new technology. The Bank of England has already pursued a range of applications, including the potential issuance of a digital currency.

Working Group China

The Hyperledger Project, has now also set up a working group in China, mirroring the strong interest in the country. Hyperledger revealed that over 25% of Hyperledger members are from mainland China.
As a result, Hyperledger announced the Technical Working Group China (TWG China) to “help bridge and foster a working relationship between the global Hyperledger community with local technical teams in China”. The TWG China aims to facilitate interactions between Hyperledger members around the world and contributors and technical users in mainland China as well as other regional countries including Taiwan and Hong Kong. The Working Group is also tasked to grow the Hyperledger developer community in China by encouraging technical contributions to the project. TWG China will host and organize meetups, hackathons, training sessions and other community efforts to help push blockchain education, research and development.

Hyperledger Fabric

After the Technical Steering Committee (TSC) of the Hyperledger Project announced the promotion of its “Fabric” blockchain project to an active phase, early March, its first production-ready distributed ledger code base, was released at the end of last month.
Hyperledger’s TSC agreed to grant the project team’s request to advance the Fabric’s status from Incubation to Active. As a reminder, we see Hyperledger as an “umbrella” for software developer communities building open-source blockchain and related technologies. Fabric falls under that umbrella and is the first of the five Incubator projects to graduate.”

Hyperledger Fabric is thereby the first project to graduate incubation to production-ready status. It was originally proposed by Digital Asset Holdings (DAH) and IBM as a result of the first hackathon during which a merge between the IBM’s proposal and DAH’s proposal was started. A group of developers from 20 different member companies has been instrumental in making the Hyperledger Fabric a reality.
“In the year since the project entered incubation, the diversity of contributors on Fabric-related projects has grown from nearly no diversity of contributors to 45 percent of the contributors – representing individual contributors or developers working for one of nineteen other companies, be they exchanges, banks, large ISVs or start-ups.” Behlendorf

The goal of Hyperledger Fabric is to supplement large-scale commercial operations of companies with a robust network. It is designed to enable confidentiality, scalability and security in business environments through a modular architecture. It allows components, such as consensus and membership services, to be plug-and-play. Fabric, will be utilized as the base protocol and platform for its member banks and companies looking to use blockchain technology in building both decentralized and private applications.

Various industry leaders and large corporations have expressed their interest to implement Hyperledger Fabric once the codebase is deployed and released. Community members including the London Stock Exchange, DTCC, and Fujitsu, said “they will allocate their resources in maximizing the potential of Hyperledger Fabric by showcasing its use cases in a wide range of applications”.

Loyyal Platform as an example

IBM Blockchain partner Loyyal became the earliest tester of Fabric and joined the Hyperledger Project soon after. They have built a handful of prototypes on Fabric, from the first release of Marbles to the most recent Fabric Composer release. And now they are building out an enterprise-grade loyalty platform utilizing Fabric and its newest features. Loyyal is thereby using blockchain and smart contract technology to reduce loyalty program operation costs through efficiencies and increase revenues through targeting capabilities. The Loyyal platform, built on blockchain, is transforming the loyalty and rewards industry by offering interoperability, multi-branded coalitions, superior liability management and dynamic issuance and redemption options.

 Other Hyperledger Projects

The Hyperledger Project has a special procedure to initiate blockchain projects. Any community member, contributor or partner company can propose blockchain projects or ideas to the Hyperledger Project and once approved, the development for the project will be pursued shortly after that. For Hyperledger projects like the Fabric to be deployed and introduced to the public, the foundation’s Technical Steering Committee (TSC) must unanimously agree that the codebase is production ready. The TSC thereby looks into the technical viability of the code, as well as its adaptability, flexibility, security and functionality to ensure that large-scale service providers will be able to utilize the blockchain technology without any boundaries.

Next to the Hyperledger Fabric, Hyperledger Project nowadays hosts multiple blockchain technologies. Hyperledger’s incubated projects include names like Blockchain Explorer, Cello, Iroha and Sawtooth Lake.

  • Blockchain Explorer

Hyperledger Blockchain Explorer is a “project in Incubation” that was proposed by IBM, Intel and DTCC to create a user-friendly web application for Hyperledger to view/query blocks, transactions and associated data, network information (such as name, status, list of nodes), chain codes/transaction families (view/invoke/deploy/query) and any other relevant information stored in the ledger.

  • Cello

A second project is Hyperledger Cello. This is a toolkit for deploying a Blockchain-as-a-Service, that reduces the effort required for creating, managing, and terminating blockchains. Hyperledger Cello aims to bring the on-demand “as-a-service” deployment model to the blockchain ecosystem, to provide a multi-tenant chain service efficiently and automatically, on top of various infrastructure, e.g., baremetal, virtual machine and more container platforms.

  • Iroha

Hyperledger Iroha is also a “project in incubation” that was proposed by Japan’s Soramitsu, Hitachi, NTT Data, and Colu. Hyperledger Iroha is a distributed ledger project that is designed to be simple and easy to incorporate into infrastructural projects requiring distributed ledger technology.

  • Sawtooth Lake

Hyperledger Sawtooth Lake is a modular blockchain suite. It supports both permissioned and permissionless deployments. Sawtooth Lake includes a novel consensus algorithm, Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET), targeting large distributed validator populations with minimal resource consumption. Transaction business logic is decoupled from the consensus layer into so-called transaction families that “allow for restricted or unfettered semantics”. Hyperledger Sawtooth Lake is contained in a single repository.

Hyperledger Project appears more promising

“Success of ‘clubs’ or consortia depends on the set up and governance, the stated aim, and also on the degree of alignment of interest of member organizations”. ”Models such as the open-source collaborative Hyperledger effort ultimately appears more promising when the aim is mainstream, commercial adoption”.Milan Salaba, partner at Deloitte

 

Carlo de Meijer

Economist and researcher

 

Blockchain and Supply Chain Finance: the missing link!

| 19-5-2017 | Carlo de Meijer | treasuryXL |

Our expert Carlo de Meijer is our blockchain specialist and publishes his articles on a regular basis. We present his latest article about blockchain and supply chain finance in a shorter version.
Carlo writes: Whereas the focus on the use of blockchain long time has been on payments and securities, an important but still undervalued use case has been supply chain finance. But that is changing. The complexity and scale of existing supply chain finance solutions has posed major challenges in ensuring adequate funding and efficient operations. According to some blockchain technology has the potential to be a game-changer for supply-chain finance. Let’s have a look.

Present state

Supply chain finance (SCF) is a generic term for a wide variety of financing instruments, used to finance various parties in a supply chain. SCF refers to the use of short-term credit to balance working capital between a buyer and a seller, thus minimising aggregate supply chain cost. Businesses can use supply chain financing to build stronger relationships with suppliers, decrease currency risk and ultimately improve liquidity.

Financial institutions offer supply chain financing solutions aimed at improving the purchaser’s working capital, and the supplier’s liquidity, by providing an efficient payables platform to streamline the payment process. Compared to the “old-fashioned” Letter of Credit, SCF now also encompasses new trade finance instruments including factoring, reverse factoring, payables financing, and dynamic discounting. Reverse factoring is the most popular and most widely used supply chain finance instrument. In reverse factoring, receivables are sold to a bank at a discount as soon as they are approved by the buyer. The bank then commits to pay the company’s invoices to the suppliers.

It is important to understand that supply chains are complex by nature; various parties are involved from raw goods supplier, producer and distributor all the way up to the consumer. This has posed major challenges in ensuring adequate funding and efficient operations.

Blockchain and supply chain finance

The question is: what can blockchain mean for supply chain finance and how could it be applied?

A blockchain-based supply chain finance solution more specific via so-called smart contracts will essentially enable all parties in a supply chain finance solution to act on a single shared ledger. A supplier and manufacturer, along with every other participant, will solely update their parts of the transaction, enabling efficiency and an “unprecedented” level of trust and transparency on a ledger record that is immutable.

“If you talk to supply chain experts, their three primary areas of pain are visibility, process optimization, and demand management. Blockchain provides a system of trusted records that addresses all three.” Brigid McDermott, vice president, Blockchain Business Development & Ecosystem, at IBM

Blockchain technology can offer great potential for both corporates and banks in terms of increased control, speed and reliability of their supply chain and at a fraction of the cost of their current infrastructure. Payments made via this digital system can be monitored by both parties, meaning that suppliers are no longer at a disadvantaged positon in the buying process while they wait for processing. Blockchain will speed up the process, giving the two companies more control, and in the long-term would ultimately create more robust supply chains.

Because the bank can see both the original contract as well as the order placed with “Company B by Company A”, it can verify both authenticity and provenance. Further, if the contract tracks manufacturing or transportation events, the bank can also know the state of fulfilment at any given time. What should be quite clear is that the visibility and auditability that are main characteristics of blockchain technology allow financial collaboration across supply chain echelons, not just bilaterally.

The time required from initiation to payment can therefore be dramatically reduced. In addition to the reduced transaction time, other benefits for importers and exporters include reduced bank fees (due to less manual activity on the part of the banks), reduced time for loan approval, and reduced risk of fraud. This way of financing a supply chain is radically cheaper and more efficient than the current way of doing business.

Blockchain: the missing link

Using blockchain may provide a simple system of secure record keeping that allows the bank redeeming CFS “to ensure that the CFS presented by the holders has been used to finance appropriate supply chain smart contracts”. At the same time suppliers using the blockchain system may retain the privacy that is need in their financial transactions with their sub-suppliers.

There are still challenges to be dealt with, too, such as the need to implement paperless trade, issues of data privacy, and how to get all members of a supply chain to participate. If global supply chains are to gain the full benefit of this technology for managing payments and related data, all parties that play a role in global trade must be involved!

By providing this missing piece of the information and supply chain management puzzle, blockchain may become the missing link!

Blockchain SCF projects

Since early this year the number of blockchain projects to improve supply chain finance is growing firmly. Especially IBM is very active in this area and partnered with companies in China and India to work on new blockchain-based solutions. IBM also teamed with Danish logistic and transport company Maersk Line, to create a new solution to digitize the global, cross-border supply chain using blockchain technology. Start-ups are at the same time popping up to help bridge the gap to this new technology, such as blockchain-based financial operating network Fluent, which aims to streamline supply chain finance.
“Blockchains built into supply chains can offer trust and accountability, as well as compliance with government regulations and internal rules and processes, resulting in reductions in costs and time delays, improved quality, and reduced risks,”Arvind Krishna, IBM Research Senior Vice President and Director Yijian Blockchain Technology Application System

 

Carlo de Meijer

Economist and researcher

 

 


You can read more about the different SCF projects in the complete article of Carlo de Meijer on LinkedIn.

 

 

National Blockchain Coalition: No Dutch Polder model!

| 8-5-2017 | Carlo de Meijer |

Now also The Netherlands (I am a Dutchman!) has its broad-based collaborative blockchain initiative. At the end of last month (30 March 2017), there was the official kick-off of the National Blockchain Coalition (“Nationale Blockchain Coalitie” in official Dutch language) (NBC) at the premises of the Ministry of Economic Affairs in The Hague. The National Blockchain Coalition is a collaboration of more than 20 organisations, governmental institutions and knowledge centres. At the same event the action agenda was handed over to The Dutch Economics Minister Henk Kamp on behalf of the partners of the NBC.

National Blockchain Coalition: raison d’être

The creation of the Coalition is an initiative of Team ICT, last year set up by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and is one of the action points in the “Digital Agenda” of the Dutch Government to accelerate the digitalisation of the economy.

The partners in the Coalition are convinced there is increasing need for corporates and government bodies to realise synergies between existing blockchain initiatives, facilitate them and bundle and share the knowledge already gained. Al these initiatives are being brought into the Coalition. But they also agreed that there is a need to create coherence between policy, regulation, supervision, maintenance and execution.

Main goal of the Coalition is to establish the preconditions needed for trusted and reliable blockchain applications. The collaboration aims, by means of collective initiatives, cooperation and knowledge sharing, to enable the Netherlands become front runner in the field of applying blockchain technology.

Some quotes (originally in Dutch!)

“The Blockchain Coalition stands for innovation and an open network approach. Cooperating on difficult issues that no one can solve on its own”. Minister Kamp

“Developing and introduction of blockchain ask for a coordinated approach of challenges by parties form various sectors. If The Netherlands in this pioneer stadium takes the chances there are, we could become a frontrunner in the blockchain area in the world”. René Penning de Vries, Team ICT

“We as employers organisation are extremely positive about this initiative and its timing. If we (in the Netherlands) collectively shoulder this project, I am firmly convinced that we will be frontrunner worldwide on blockchain.” VNO-NCW chairman Hans de Boer

“Most important lesson is that you cannot pick up this (blockchain) theme alone. Most value will be created if you bring more parties together and unites. That is also one of the main reasons to get to work with blockchain via a consortium”. Mariken Tannemaat, Chief Innovation Officer Nationale Nederlanden 

Partners

This joint initiative has 23 founding partners and 8 sustaining organisations. Because the application of blockchain technology is expected to have a big impact on the financial sector, as well as logistics and energy sector, these are the best represented sectors in the Coalition.

From the financial services side banks like ABN AMRO, ING en Volksbank and insurer Nationale Nederlanden participate.
Other partner organisations are: Havenbedrijf Rotterdam, Enexis, Alliander, de Koninklijke Notariële Beroepsorganisatie, Brightlands, CWI, Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport (ILT), de KvK, RDW, Rijksdienst voor Identiteitsgegevens, ECP | Platform voor de InformatieSamenleving.
From the government side participating bodies are: Ministeries van Economische Zaken, Infrastructuur en Milieu, Veiligheid and Justitie en Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties.
From the knowledge centre side: TU Delft, Universiteit van Tilburg, Radboud Universiteit, Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, NWO and TNO.
Supportive organisations include: AFM, Betaalvereniging Nederland, De Nederlandsche Bank, de NVB, DutchChain, SIVI, StartupDelta en Verbond van Verzekeraars.

Action Agenda

The action agenda is a joint initiative of the above mentioned organisations. In this action plan it is described which steps the Coalition is going to take in the coming period to realise the various goals. The agenda contains three lines of action to boost blockchain expertise and operational readiness in The Netherlands.
The partners of the National Blockchain Coalitie will primarily focus on the development of digital identities, with which persons, objects and legal persons in the blockchain can perform transactions as part of a blockchain. Working on these identification processes requires the focus on both interoperability (APIs) and standardisation.
”Goal is to create stronger identities for persons, so that repetitive verification is not needed. This is one of the preconditions needed to let blockchain function well”. Program manager Ad Kroft.
Besides that the Coalition will also work on solutions in the field of legislation and acceptation. It is thereby their intention to work on the right conditions under which blockchain can be used.

Also arrangements have been made regarding education, knowledge sharing and strengthen skills. The third line of action is realisation of the Human Capital Agenda to improve the level of knowledge and skills on blockchain, both at an information-technical as well as on social-scientific, economical, legal, ethical and business themes.

Positives

Blockchain has the potential to make business processes more efficient and reliable. The Coalition partners foresee great possibilities within the country for improvement of service delivery, better control of production processes, cost savings, reduction of fraud and reduced cyber risk.The Coalition also foresees positive effects on the autonomy of citizens, transparency of transactions, cybersecurity and reduction of administrative burden.
“Blockchain plays an important role in the further strengthening of trust in the world of digital transactions. This technology brings positive effects for the efficiency of organisations that are active in the financial sector.” Arjan van Os, Head Innovation Centre

No Poldermodel

Collaboration, certainly when talking about blockchain is a necessity. To discuss the rules of the game, agree on common issues etc. But the participating partners in this Coalition should prevent that the final results are weakened compromises (for the sake off!!). The partners in the Coalition should keep in mind that in this field a Polder model to keep everybody satisfied is not the way!!!! Because that will leave the Netherlands behind, not in front. Besides, the benefits of blockchain can only be reaped at the maximum in an international context. And not isolated. This asks for international cooperation.

 

Carlo de Meijer

Economist and researcher

 

Blockchain and the Ripple effect: did it ripple?

|24-4-2017 | Carlo de Meijer | treasuryXL

Our expert Carlo de Meijer has published an interesting article about a blockchain initiative that we want to share with you. We have slightly shortened the original article about Ripple.

 

Who is Ripple?

Have you ever thrown a stone in still water of a river or a lake. I did! The effect is rippling the water in a way that can be followed outwards incrementally. It might be this effect that the founders of Ripple, the payments blockchain network had in mind when choosing the name for their project. Did it ripple?

San Francisco based Ripple is seen as one of the most advanced distributed ledger technology (DLT) companies in the industry, which focuses on the using of blockchain-like technology for payments.

In just four years, Ripple has established itself as a key player in the fast-growing distributed ledger technology world. Since 2013, the Ripple Protocol has been adopted by an increasing number of financial institutions to “[offer] an alternative remittance option” to consumers. Especially the years 2015 and 2016 marked the expansion of Ripple, with the opening of an office in Sydney (April 2015) and the opening of European offices in London (March 2016 ) and in Luxembourg (June 2016).
In June last year, Ripple obtained a virtual currency license from the New York State Department of Financial Services, making it the fourth company with a BitLicense. As of 2017, Ripple is the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, after Bitcoin and Ether.

What is Ripple?

Ripple is a financial real-time gross settlement solution, currrency exchange and remittance network using distributed ledger technology. Released in 2012, it purports to enable “secure, instant and nearly free global financial transactions of any size with no chargebacks”.
Ripple is built upon a distributed open source Internet protocol, consensus ledger and native currency called XRP (ripples) enabling (cross-border) payments for retail customers, corporations, and other banks.
The Ripple Protocol, described as “basic (settlement) infrastructure technology for interbank transactions”, enables the interoperation of different ledgers and payment networks and brings together three aspects of modern payment solutions: messaging, settlement and FX management. It allows banks and non-bank financial services companies to incorporate the Ripple Protocol into their own systems, and therefore allow their customers to use the service.

The protocol enables the instant and direct transfer of money between two parties. As such the protocol can circumvent the fees and wait times of the traditional correspondent banking system. Any type of currency can be exchanged including USD, euros, RMB, yen, gold, airline miles, and rupees.
“Ripple simplifies the [exchange] process by creating point-to-point and transparent transfers in which banks do not have to pay corresponding bank fees.” Chris Larssen, former CEO Ripple

The Ripple company also created its own form of digital currency dubbed XRP in a manner similar to bitcoin, using the currency to allow financial institutions to transfer money with “negligible fees and wait-time. One of the specific functions of XRP is as a bridge currency, which can be necessary if no direct exchange is available between two currencies at a specific time. For example when transacting between two rarely traded currency pairs. Within the network’s currency exchange, XRP are traded freely against other currencies, and its market price fluctuates against dollars, euros, yen, bitcoin etc.

Did it Ripple?

Growing adoption by banks
Ripple has experienced a growing adoption by banks. Many financial companies have subsequently announced experimenting and integrations with Ripple. The first bank to use Ripple was the online-only Fidor Bank in Munich, which announced the partnership early 2014. Fidor Bank would be using the Ripple protocol to implement a new real-time international money transfer network.
Since then a host of major banks have adopted Ripple to improve their cross-border payments, and many have completed trial blockchain projects. These banking institutions – including Santander, UniCredit, UBS, Royal Bank of Canada, Westpac Banking Corporation, CIBC, and National Bank of Abu Dhabi, among others – view Ripple’s payment protocol and exchange network as a valid mechanism for offering real-time affordable money transfers.

Some recent developments in the Ripple network

The real uptake of Ripple however started to take place in 2016 and continued during the first quarter of 2017.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi (February 2017), Axis Bank (January 2017), SEB (November 2016), Standard Chartered (September 2016), and National Australia Bank (September 2016) are the latest banks to join Ripple’s blockchain-powered network for cross-border payments. And more banks will get on the Ripple bandwagon during 2017. Ripple says its network now includes 12 of the top 50 global banks, ten banks in commercial deal phases, and over 30 bank pilots completed.
Banks and their customers have been hearing about the promise of blockchain technology to enable real-time cross-border payments. Now, some of the most innovative and successful banks like NBAD are making this a reality by offering Ripple-enabled payments to their entire customer base, and in doing so, paving the way to make 2017 the year we see broad commercialization of blockchain take hold globally.” Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple

Further Rippling: enlarging the network

Global Payments Steering Group
Last year September Ripple created the “first: interbank group for global payments based on distributed financial technology. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Santander, UniCredit, Standard Chartered, Westpac, and Royal Bank of Canada have joined as founding members of the network, known as the Global Payments Steering Group (GPSG). CIBC will also join the GPSG as a new member.
“The creation of GPSG is significant because this represents the first time that major banks have formulated policies to govern the transfer of money across borders using blockchain,” Donald Donahue, GPSG chairman.

GPSG aims to use Ripple’s technology to slash the time and cost of settlement while enabling new types of high-volume, low-value global transactions. The group will oversee the creation and maintenance of Ripple payment transaction rules, formalised standards for activity using Ripple, and other actions to support the implementation of Ripple payment capabilities.

R3CEV
Last year October R3 and twelve of its blockchain consortium member banks – including Barclays, NAB, Nordea, Royal Bank of Canada, Santander – have trialled Ripple’s Digital Asset XRP, to tackle the costs and inefficiencies of interbank cross-border payments. Ripple says XRP has the “fastest” settlement speed, settling in about five seconds or less.
“The prototype paves the way for a major overhaul of how banks process and settle cross border payments”. David Rutter, CEO of R3

Banks traditionally provision liquidity for cross-border payments by holding various currencies in local accounts with correspondent banks around the world. But these ‘nostro’ accounts are costly because banks have to fund them, trapping capital. Ripple argues that this can be fixed by instead using a digital asset – such as its XRP – which provides liquidity on demand.
Ripple’s network was trialled in R3’s lab and research centre, making markets for fiat currencies using XRP and then completing authenticated payments without multiple nostro accounts. The trial introduced XRP to test the feasibility of reducing or retiring the use of current nostro accounts for local currency payouts.

Ripple Innovations

In the meantime a number of important innovations were announced in the Ripple offering.

Ripple Validator Node
Global IT company CGI announced it is the first commercial enterprise to implement the Ripple Validator Node. Ripple validators are servers that confirm Ripple’s distributed financial technology transactions on the network. The CGI-hosted Ripple Validator Node provides banking clients with a trusted network partner for Ripple’s distributed financial technology that settles international and domestic transactions in real-time.

Smart Token Chain
Smart Token Chain (STC), a blockchain specialist in the FinTech sector, has completed its first full Smart Token transaction across the Ripple Network. Using Ripple gives STC universal access to a wide range of partners and customers without having to physically craft a digital relationship with each one. STC is leveraging Ripple’s open, neutral platform, called “Interledger Protocol” to move payments globally across different ledgers and networks.
Leveraging the Ripple platform with new Smart Token solutions is accelerating the move toward the launch of a truly useful blockchain and smart contract implementation, which has great potential for making global exchanges of value fast, affordable and highly secure. It also provides a well-documented audit trail that will make dispute resolutions more efficient and less frequent.

Ripple’s new cost model

Ripple created a cost model, designed specifically to help banks understand their cost structure and how Ripple can help them overcome current inefficiencies. With Ripple’s new cost model, banks can easily enter transaction volume and operational metrics to receive a custom cost analysis. The cost analysis breaks down cost to a per-payment level, for both a bank’s current system and if it were to use Ripple. By using this model banks can easily estimate the efficiency gains it could achieve using Ripple for international payments.
XRP Incentive Program

The XRP incentive program is designed to accelerate the use of XRP as a universal bridge currency by creating deep and liquid markets at the outset of being listed on digital exchanges. The program is funded by Ripple and will be operationally managed by exchanges for their liquidity providers.

Global financial institutions are increasingly looking for solutions to consolidate the liquidity tied up with the nostro accounts required to fund their overseas payments. Digital assets such as XRP allow for banks to fund their payments in real-time, and in the process, cut down their dependency on nostro accounts.
As a bridge currency, it can enable liquidity concentration around fewer currency pairs, making cross-border payments more efficient. As evidenced by R3’s trial with XRP for interbank cross-border payments, the use of Ripple and XRP can enable both cost-cutting and revenue opportunities for participating institutions.

BitGo makes XRP more accessible
Ripple’s efforts to build an active ecosystem around its XRP digital asset has been boosted by a deal with virtual currency processor BitGo. Under the programme, BitGo will provide multi-signature security, advanced treasury management and additional enterprise functionality for XRP, which will be integrated into the BitGo platform this year.

The Rippling goes on!

Ripple plans to enlarge the number of exchanges trading XRP. Working with a greater number of exchanges to list XRP is an important step to serve the growing demand for global payments in major and exotic currency corridors. Ripple has previously commented that by using its network and XRP as a bridge asset, banks can save up to 42% on interbank international payments.

“This cost-saving frees up capital to generate revenue opportunities, including new product offerings for high-volume, low-value payments and access to new corridors”, claims Ripple.

The Ripple effect goes on!

 

Carlo de Meijer

Economist and researcher