Sunday, 4 December 2016

Week 5 [5.12-11.12.2016] - Bitcoin, Blockchain, and the Future of Financial Transactions

Ladies and Gentlemen,

this week I have the pleasure to present you the article about future of finance in terms of usage of virtual currencies and blockchain.


Article was presented in last years CFA Institute Conference. 

Briefly introducing - bitcoin is a new financial system that has the potential to have a big impact on the way the world does business. Its open ledger system and distribution network make it an alternative way to present methods how transactions are made, settled and record . Although it is still in its infancy, as bitcoin becomes larger and more sophisticated, it may very well provide solutions to many of the current financial system’s problems.

Questions to the article are as follows:

  1. Charles G. Cascarilla identifies three main areas where Bitcoin technology is used nowadays. Do you know any other areas that has potential to use Bitcoin for?
  2. Do you think that blockchain technology will replace the traditional banking systems in the future?
  3. Do you know any other solutions that use blockchain?

22 comments:

  1. 1. Charles G. Cascarilla identifies three main areas where Bitcoin technology is used nowadays. Do you know any other areas that has potential to use Bitcoin for?
    Colored bitcoin - in this concept bitcoin users are allowed so spend certain kind of bitcoin only for specific services or goods. For example governments can distribute social assistance by colored bitcoin distribution, and it is only allowed to spend this kind of bitcoin for example on food or education
    Smart contracts - smart contract is a computer program that are executed only in planned environment and conditions. Possible applications of such constructions can P2P insurance or P2P payments
    AML solutions - thanks to Bitcoin protocol constructions there are some exactly known things, such as:
    Origin of specific bitcoin
    How bitcoin was created
    From which wallet it has came, and previous history
    Transactions that specific bitcoin was related/used
    2. Do you think that blockchain technology will replace the traditional banking systems in the future?
    In my blockchain technology is not a threat to the banking sector. Banks will just adapt this technology like any other. In fact many banks already has started working on blockchain related solutions for remittance and payments. But it is certainly dangerous for other financial companies such as payment processors, card companies and any other third parties involved payments or money transfer operations.
    3. Do you know any other solutions that use blockchain?
    Ethereum framework for decentralized democratic applications
    Userfeeds.io - reputation based social network with popularity monetization
    Golem project - reputation based distributed supercomputer
    Voting solutions
    Authorizations and authentications solutions
    DRM alternatives
    Diamonds history and authentication
    etc.

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  2. I do agree that Bitcoin is answer to money laundering issues. Financial institutions have very limited possibilities of investigating money flow, transaction originator's personal data, details. Knowing such information as:origin of bitcoin, its history, way of creation would make work of Anti-money Laundering Analysts in all the banks of the world much easier and less time consuming. Bitcoin will not replace traditional banking system in the nearest future, because this would harm interest of some very powerful corporations, such as Visa, American Express, Western Union etc. And we have to remember that the modern world is run by large, influential corporations. Block chain applications would be great solution for the real estate market.They help reduce fraud, increase financial privacy, speed up transactions, and internationalize markets.

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  3. Charles G. Cascarilla identifies three main areas where Bitcoin technology is used nowadays. Do you know any other areas That has potential to use Bitcoin for?
    Unfortunately I do not know.
    For blockchain Do you think that technology will replace the traditional banking systems in the future? It is a quite interesting solution, but I do not think the solution has replaced the traditional banking systems. As history shows bitcoin was hesitation, I will add that large.
    Do you know any other solutions That blockchain use?
    I only heard that is written by Ewelina - Golem project.

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  4. 1. Charles G. Cascarilla identifies three main areas where Bitcoin technology is used nowadays. Do you know any other areas that has potential to use Bitcoin for?

    Smart card payments, Recording NASDAQ trades, Land registries, Smart contracts, Cloud storage, Music pay,eat and licensing, Supply chains, Tracing taxpayer money, online voting and many many more. This technology have a lot of potential in many areas.

    2. Do you think that blockchain technology will replace the traditional banking systems in the future?

    It is highly possible, because as any other technology improves it is replaces by the newer one. I guess some banks already started their’s work with blockchain technology, I have some doubts when it comes to security, but I probably don’t have enough knowledge about this subject to undermine opinion about it.

    3. Do you know any other solutions that use blockchain?

    Trading Ownership in online marketplace, File Storage, Voting, Authorzation, Authentication, Identity Management.

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  5. 1. Charles G. Cascarilla identifies three main areas where Bitcoin technology is used nowadays. Do you know any other areas that has potential to use Bitcoin for?
    Thanks for interesting article. Bitcoin may be used everywhere where we use money or it may has even more broad application. It can be used as an investmenet, to buy gooods and services or as other transactions. It is also a little bit risky. Despite of every methods used to protect against fraud I am not sure about safety of bitcoins.

    Do you think that blockchain technology will replace the traditional banking systems in the future?
    I do not think so. As far as I know goverments are not positive about bitcoins. It is very difficult to control bitcoins and they are afraid that people will avoid paying taxes etc. It may happens that they will introduce some restrictions on using bitcoins. Also banks will try to keep their customers or they will have to addapt to new payment method.

    Do you know any other solutions that use blockchain?
    Unfortunately I don't know. I can't add anything new except of examples that are given in previous comments.

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  6. Katarzyna made actually an excellent point in stating that governments are not positive about bitcoin. What seems great advantage advantage of bitcon for common users is actually a great disadvantage for governments.Bitcoin is created and held electronically. It cannot be controlled by a single institution, so the funds cannot be taken away from its owner or blocked because of the "run on bank". So imagine why governments are not fond of the idea of making bitcoin a widely used currency? What's the use of money that cannot be controlled by the ones that control our countries, administration, financial instituitions? That is why, I'm afraid, bitcoin will not conquer world's financial markets.

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  7. Thanks for this article. Bitcoin idea is a very interesting one but not clear for me fully. This article is a little sophisticated for beginners. Generally I understand bitcoin idea but details are still magic. I don't use it and I think I will not use it in the nearest future. I reckon bitcoin as another unuseful idea for computer freaks. I predict next year big financial crisis and all this bitcoins shit will be abandoned finally. People will use only gold and silver to pay for goods and services.

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  8. It will be very hard to answer your questions with more than "no", but I will try...

    1. Charles G. Cascarilla identifies three main areas where Bitcoin technology is used nowadays. Do you know any other areas that has potential to use Bitcoin for?

    I am not aware of other areas, sorry.

    2. Do you think that blockchain technology will replace the traditional banking systems in the future?

    I strongly doubt that blockchain will ever replace traditional currencies. There is not enough control (in fact no control) of the governments and no self-respecting government would ever accept lack of control. For better or worse.

    3. Do you know any other solutions that use blockchain?

    Honestly, I have heard of possible other use cases for this technology, but I have never been interested, so I forgot. I can't recall anything at this moment.

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    Replies
    1. Hello, I was pretty sure that the value of bitcoins has reached its maximal level about 2 years ago and now it decreases. I was wrong :). Bitcoin is a digital currency, which can be used everywhere where this kind of virtual exchange is acceptable. So answer for first question is extremely difficult, because right now it is used everywhere if service provider accepts bitcoins.


      If we are talking about the replacement for traditional banking solution - we have to remember that the foundation of each currency is (or should be) its reflection in a gold. This kind of exchange or frankly speaking idea might be partially implemented in nowadays banking systems but not as replacement.

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  10. Charles G. Cascarilla identifies three main areas where Bitcoin technology is used nowadays. Do you know any other areas that has potential to use Bitcoin for?
    The idea behind virtual currency is a bit problematic. It emerges from the internet and can be easily destroyed by it. With real money we have tones of gold behind it. With Bitcoin, Netcoin and every other crypto currency we can't be sure it's stability. Maybe someone will decide to destroy every single piece of it. Steal everything, it's far easier to do this than make a real heist. I won't invest into crypto currency, maybe I'm just stupid :D
    Do you think that blockchain technology will replace the traditional banking systems in the future?
    I don't think so, however it will be part of our life. At least in the nearest future.
    Do you know any other solutions that use blockchain?
    Netcoin, DogCoin and so on. Feel free to check https://coinmarketcap.com/

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  11. • Do you know any other areas that has potential to use Bitcoin for?

    Yes, I know: AML solutions, Smart contracts and Colored bitcoin features. (as far as I can see Ewelina already described that).


    • Do you think that blockchain technology will replace the traditional banking systems in the future?

    For the massive financial services sector, blockchain technology offers an opportunity to overhaul its existing business model, including its banking infrastructure, approach to settlements and customer interactions. But acting on this opportunity, and making the most of the blockchain, is no easy task given the core beliefs and reinforcing systems that are embedded in the industry.
    In the present financial services business model, a central ledger most often acts as the custodian of that information (such as the Federal Reserve and its member banks). But in a blockchain world, the information regarding each transaction is transparently held in a digitally shared database in the cloud, without a single central body acting as the middleman. This lack of central authority is the very feature that is turning the current mental and business models of traditional financial institutions on their heads.

    • Do you know any other solutions that use blockchain?
    From my point of view the most important thing is security. In future, in a lot of areas, it looks like the blockchain will replace the current centralized business model of the financial services industry and it is easy to see how it could revolutionize all of Wall Street. The ability of the technology to provide an unforgivable record of identity, including the history of an individual’s transactions, is one area being eagerly explored. David Grace, head of global finance at PwC, said that “if you have a secure distributed ledger, it could be used to store validated ‘know your customer’ data on individuals or companies. … It’s a potentially global application that could provide more security over identity data and where that data are stored.”

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  13. Hi, thank you for sharing this article with us. Let me get straight to your questions.
    1. My colleagues depleted this topic, especially Cezary gave a lot of prominent areas. ;)
    2. The short answer to this question is maybe. They are a great mechanism for keeping track of transactions, however there are other issues which the government would not look keen upon.
    3. There is this idea of keeping the history of certain image in this form so that you could see all past edits on it.

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  14. Thank you for the very interesting and a short article talking about an important and future-oriented topic. In my opinion, it is a very important issue. The world aims at using a micro-payment system more widely. Currently, micro-payment systems apply telephone operators very well. In my opinion, it will be extended to new areas, for example, you can make solutions like electricity payment when you are away from home, or offer favorite movies. There are many services which can make micro-payments. I do not think that Blockchain will replace the current system of payment but it will certainly be a very important pillar in new systems. Blockchain is an extremely attractive technology especially, for the banks and the state administration. Documents stored in this way, and accounting records are (theoretically) highly resistant to forgery and all kinds of manipulations that take place in the world of traditional documentation.

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  15. I must say that there was a time when I was really fascinated with bitcoins BUT I was young and I didn't understand that. I think that this will prevent to use bitcoins as a normal currency. It is not about the technology itself. It is about ways to get them. How will you distribute it ? How will you change current currency for bitcoins ? How will you recognize legal generated currency from the wrong one ? There are a lot more questions that we should answer.
    I think this is only a "fun fact" and it is good, there are places where we can exchange it for real money and that is good, you pay with it and that is good but I don't think that this should be a normal currency. It is very unstable.

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  16. Charles G. Cascarilla identifies three main areas where Bitcoin technology is used nowadays. Do you know any other areas that has potential to use Bitcoin for?

    Bitcoin has a lot of potential in e-commerce applications, especially considering transactions involving individuals (seller vs buyer) from different countries. It makes transactions easier and cheaper by reducing currency exchange factor.

    Do you think that blockchain technology will replace the traditional banking systems in the future?

    I would not agree with the above statement. Yes, it is possible that banking sector might adapt some of the technologies but it would certainly not be possible to apply to all of the transaction types.

    Do you know any other solutions that use blockchain?

    I have not heard of any other than mentioned by colleagues earlier.

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  17. • Charles G. Cascarilla identifies three main areas where Bitcoin technology is used nowadays. Do you know any other areas that has potential to use Bitcoin for?

    In my point of view Bitcoin can be used only for various transactions. I’ve heard about Bitcoin as a way of payment so its potential may be huge. I would only add that I’m waiting for period of e-payments – without cash. It seems to me to be very convenient.

    • Do you think that blockchain technology will replace the traditional banking systems in the future?

    As it is presented in the article, Bitcoin won’t replace the traditional banking systems but on the other hand it may be a parallel possibility for customers.

    • Do you know any other solutions that use blockchain?
    Yes, I know. It is a software that uses company that I work for. We have a specialised monitoring of printers that are owned by our customers. Every device has it’s unique serial number that can be used only once and all printed pages are shown on the webpage every 15 minutes for each printer. The logic is the same as the blockchain has.

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  18. Charles G. Cascarilla identifies three main areas where Bitcoin technology is used nowadays. Do you know any other areas that has potential to use Bitcoin for?

    Sorry, I don't. I don't know much about bitcoin. Actually the article you presented is the first one that I red about it, so I am not able to give any examples of potential use of bitcoins.

    Do you think that blockchain technology will replace the traditional banking systems in the future?

    In my opinion replacing the traditional banking systems might be very difficult. Banking is a very strong sector which rules the world in many areas, so not many things can threat them. Maybe, as Ewelina mentioned, banking sector will adapt the blockchain technology.

    Do you know any other solutions that use blockchain?

    Again no ;) I have to say that for a person who in not very interested in finance it is difficult to answer this question.

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  19. Hello, thanks for this interesting article.
    Charles G. Cascarilla identifies three main areas where Bitcoin technology is used nowadays. Do you know any other areas that has potential to use Bitcoin for?
    I am not familiar with this topic, however, I have heard it can be used in ecommerce and AML as a great insight into the generated cashflows.
    Do you think that blockchain technology will replace the traditional banking systems in the future?
    According to some forecasts (for an example IBM) : 65% of world's major banks will use Blockchain by 2019 and now 17% of them have the full blockchain product. Trust and efficiency are deemed as the main drives. I think that it will be hard to implement it in Poland and for the polish banking system it is seen as a threat.
    Do you know any other solutions that use blockchain?
    Unfortunately, this is all I know and have heard.

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  20. Charles G. Cascarilla identifies three main areas where Bitcoin technology is used nowadays. Do you know any other areas that has potential to use Bitcoin for?

    I'm not quite sure but I think it can be used internally for bank transfers taking place current SWIFT system. But I'm not hundred percent sure about this.

    Do you think that blockchain technology will replace the traditional banking systems in the future?
    Yes I think so, there is a increasing amount of transactions so we need new solutions to face those challenges. SWIFT has been with us for many years and it seems pretty old school to not have online transactions nowadays.
    Do you know any other solutions that use blockchain?
    No, I don't really know other fields of applications of this technology other than banking.

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    ReplyDelete