Banks, especially, have indicated an interest in the technology, with nearly one third of surveyed institutions noting that they are at least in the initial stages of developing strategies to integrate blockchain into their operations.
The technology does offer several solutions that can greatly aid an industry that has been historically mired in the shadows.
The result is the rise of companies like the UK’s ezbob. The company, which recently earned accolades for technological innovation at the Financial Innovation Awards in London, raised another £15 million and reached a total of £103.5 million in investments to date.
ezbob’s platform focuses on Straight Through Processing (STP), an initiative that financial companies use to optimize the speed at which they process transactions, in lending.
The firm has helped several banks to expedite their platforms. Moreover, it offers the largest banks the ability to compete with smaller, leaner lenders on their own terms while offering a more secure, accurate, and reliable evaluation and fraud prevention system.
Others have tackled different arenas, from payment processing - companies such as PayPal and Stripe, which have eased online transactions - to wealth management, where young start-ups such as Addepar are creating better investment platforms.
Despite the promise blockchain holds, the fintech industry continues to find new ways to solve existing problems on its own, providing better accessibility to more people in the process of its own evolution.
The industry may find great uses for blockchain, but should not consider it a pillar so much as a powerful and complementary asset.
