Even though the bank has canceled the idea of offering its customers a cryptocurrency wallet, it does not impede to execute the businesses that are profitable although they involve blockchain technology
With this new technology there are uncertainties and fears for the simple fact of thinking about the incursion into the blockchain world. This is due to the fact that there are many factors that are harming the sector: Cyber-attacks by hackers, the low stability of prices in the exchange market and, in most cases, the lack of legal support with little regulation for this matter.
It is for this reason that many actors who seek to get involved in the development of these new processes must have a sense of vision in accordance with the new times, and take risks.
Recently, the Dutch bank ABN AMRO has decided to cancel the development of its own cryptocurrency wallet, a project that had been announced since January of this year. The main reason that lead to the definitive cancellation of the plan is to consider this technology as “dangerous and unsafe”.
Jarco de Swart, who is the bank’s senior press officer, informed through an email that the institution has taken the decision not to continue after “concluding that cryptocurrencies, due to their unregulated nature, are, at this moment, too risky assets for our company”.
The wallet project was called “Wallie” and in the first instance it would only serve to provide the service of safeguarding digital assets, but not as a tool for transactions. The cancellation was made even when the bank had conducted a survey to its customers about how the tool should look like and if they would want the bank to create the cryptocurrency wallet.
It was known that although the project did not come to light, there were great plans for its implementation. Also, it is known that the tool would only serve to safeguard cryptocurrencies within the banking institution, without it involving, in a way, other operations. The operation of Wallie would be through the use of private keys in which only the bank would have custody.
It Is Not the Only Blockchain Project
It should be mentioned that it is not the only project related to blockchain technology that is involved with the Dutch bank, since in the middle of last year, the port of Rotterdam (the largest and most important in Europe), had an alliance with the ABN AMRO Bank and with an extension of the South Korean company Samsung to develop a project to help prove blockchain technology in their shipments, as well as to reduce transfer times and simplify all financial transactions.
In addition to all of this, the bank developed a register of its customers using blockchain technology, as well as it has been included in macro investment projects related to mineral, gas and oil extraction businesses using blockchain-based tools for their extraction, and administrative and financial processes. Perhaps, in a near future, this financial institution surprises again with the development of new blockchain projects thought for the needs of its current users.
By María Rodríguez
