Blockchain Revolution

ROAD MAP FOR THE GOLDEN EIGHT
Blockchain technologies will impact every form and function of the financial services
industry—from retail banking and capital markets to accounting and regulation. They
will also force us to rethink the role of banks and financial institutions in society.
“Bitcoin cannot have bail-ins, bank holidays, currency controls, balance freezes,
withdrawal limits, banking hours,”
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said Andreas Antonopoulos.
Whereas the old world was hierarchical, slow-moving, reluctant to change, closed
and opaque, and controlled by powerful intermediaries, the new order will be flatter,
offering a peer-to-peer solution; more private and secure; transparent, inclusive, and
innovative. To be sure, there will be dislocation and disruption, but there is also a
remarkable opportunity for the industry’s leaders to do something about it today. The
financial services industry will both shrink and grow over the coming years; fewer
intermediaries will be able to offer more products and services at a much lower cost to
a much larger population. That’s a good thing. Whether permissioned and closed
blockchains will find a place in a decentralized world is up for debate. Barry Silbert,
who founded SecondMarket and is now CEO of the Digital Currency Group, said, “I
have a very cynical view of the objectivities put forward by large financial
incumbents. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
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We
believe that the unstoppable force of blockchain technology is barreling down on the
entrenched, regulated, and ossified infrastructure of modern finance.
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Their collision
will reshape the landscape of finance for decades to come. We would like it to finally
transform from an industrial age money machine into a prosperity platform.

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