A game changer for the financial markets
Blockchain technology, also called distributed ledger technology (DLT), facilitates a number of innovations in the financial services sector. A distributed ledger is a public, decentralised account book originally developed as the technological foundation of the virtual currency bitcoin. In digital payment and business transactions, DLT can be used to record transactions between users without a mandatory central authority to legitimise individual transactions.
The financial sector quickly realised the large number of possible applications and DLT’s potential to increase efficiency. A number of initiatives are currently exploring and specifying blockchain’s broad scope of application. Deutsche Börse has been making substantial investments in the development and introduction of state-of-the-art services using DLT. Among Deutsche Börse’s most recent activities in this area are the development of a blockchain solution for cross-border securities transfer in cooperation with the Liquidity Alliance as well as the development of a functioning blockchain-based prototype for a means of settling securities transactions in cooperation with Deutsche Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank. In addition, Deutsche Börse is a premium member of the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger project.
Ashwin Kumar talks to Business Reporter about the strong innovative potential of blockchain.
