For most people, first Blockchain appliance that comes to their mind is Bitcoin – the cryptocurrency, a digital coin that allows for transferring value between the users over the internet.
And indeed, Bitcoin was the first proof of Blockchain technology, created by Satoshi Nakamoto, its mythical founder. Since then, Blockchain was strongly tied to the banking industry due to the ability to transfer value combined with amazing cryptographic safety. It was even perceived as an alternative, and therefore a threat, to the traditional banking and finance. For many users, it was a way to bypass the banks in international financial transactions.
After 10 years since its invention, we can clearly see that things got more complicated and less antagonistic. The markets received the new technology well, and the banks are still pursuing new opportunities connected with it. For example, Santander estimates that Blockchain could save about $20 billion per year just within this industry.
Here’s a couple of examples on how to do that.
Blockchain Use Cases in Finance
International (Cross-border) Payments
One of the well-known benefits of Blockchain is the way it can eliminate the middleman. This single feature can significantly cut the cost of international transfers and increase their speed. A side effect is an immutable database, that lets you easily audit the data and prevent cyber threats and security breaches.
Smart Contracts
Smart Contracts are basically the programs that run on Blockchain. You can compare it to a traditional contract signed on paper – the difference is that thanks to the software component, it can fulfill its own commitment. It’s an amazing way to change a long and time-consuming process into a short, automated deal.
If you’re interested in this topic, take a look at our compilation of Smart Contract posts from our blog: https://www.l4a-soft.com/blog/post/5-essential-l4a-articles-smart-contracts
Stock trading
Blockchain is very useful in buying and selling shares. It gives you instant settlements, makes the process safe and secure, and (again) cuts the middleman. You can configure it in a way, that will create a transparent and accessible ledger for automated analysis and audits.
Lending
Probably this idea already came to your mind while reading about Smart Contracts. Getting a loan is complicated, requires a lot of effort, data processing, and document signing. Smart Contracts can solve this problem and smoothen the process. It translates into a better customer experience.
Accenture estimated, that using Blockchain the global Financial industry could save up to $10 billion.
Insurance
The insurance industry is another example where an automated Smart Contract could work wonders.
For example, two parties sign a contract, where one of them has to pay every month $5. If the contract gets a signal from a third party that a certain event occurred, the contract automatically sends a certain money transfer to this person.
And well… you can use the same mechanism in gambling.
Benefits of Blockchain in Finance
Optimization of the Process of Creating Documents
You might be not aware of the fact, that in banking, some of the documents are still processed by fax up to this day.
Everything that happens on Blockchain, stays in Blockchain. It reduces the paperwork and gives you an accurate point of reference for all the processes. It’s self-sufficient – you don’t need to take much care of its maintenance.Transparent Ledger
You can make the data available to everyone involved, reducing fraud and allowing your business partners for secure access. It can be very useful for example in insurance the industry.
Easy Audits
Thanks to the immutability and transparency, the process of auditing the ledger is much more efficient than the traditional one. All the changes can be tracked in real time.
Decentralized Database
Due to the fact that the Blockchain stores d
