For months, the talk of the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries has been finding ways to achieve mass adoption: more applications and users will surely catapult the field towards the status it deserves and has the potential to attain. However, as it happens with so many things in life, it is far easier said than done.
That is the opinion of a group of experts that claim financial institutions need to have the proper platform to take on such a big challenge. To promote mass adoption of blockchain and digital coins, they need to replace their current internal IT (Information Technology) infrastructure, according to Scottish news site Scotsman.
A Matter of Compatibility
Jeremy Drain, who is associated with crypto-focuses software firm Libra, said that “there is an assumption by some companies that their current infrastructure will accept crypto and blockchain,” but in practice, those companies’ data is too different, and as a result, their current systems cannot work with the blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
Drain spoke at length about the subject at Edinburgh’s ScotChain 18, which focuses on discussing the impact of technology in business and commerce. Other crypto experts that took part in the conference were Deloitte’s Risk Advisory Leader for Fintech and RegTech Kent McKenzie and Cambridge’s Centre for Alternative Finance Apolline Blandin as well as Casey Kuhlman of Monax.
“Immature” Software
Most of the panel talked about the need for standardization in the blockchain world and the regulatory hurdle that is still to be cleared by governments, mostly. In fact, Kuhlman explained that blockchain is still “immature” software, and the fact that there are notable differences among the existing tech structures of each cryptocurrency complicates matters even further.
All the companies that have wanted to experiment with blockchain solutions and have achieved varying degrees of success doing it have taken the time and resources to put together the right infrastructure. “Success stories seem to have one characteristic in common: they needed the right infrastructure in place to ensure the rapid, seamless, and secure transmission and processing of data on the blockchain,” were the words of Michael Young, the CEO of MBN solutions, a recruitment company.
According to Young, numerous firms conduct their due research about the uses and applications of blockchain technology and how it can be seamlessly adapted to their business line and approach, so its presence has an effect on the traditional IT setting of these enterprises and their ability to allow the “new order.”
Known Cases around the Industry
Fujitsu, a well-known IT equipment and services firm hailing from Japan, stated its intentions of building a blockchain-based interbank settlement ecosystem while establishing an alliance with nine financial institutions. The intention of the initiative was to ensure the viability of the blockchain system.
In a similar line of thought, MOEX, The Moscow Exchange, said in June that it wanted to launch an infrastructure capable of letting firms conduct ICOs this year.
By Andres Chavez
