03.29.2016

Wall Street Wrestles with Blockchain Use Case

03.29.2016

The financial-services industry may want blockchain, but it still has not figured out what to do with the Bitcoin-enabling technology, according attendees of the Blockchain Symposium hosted by the the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. in midtown Manhattan.

When DTCC CEO emeritus Donald Donahue, now president and CEO of Miranda Partners, polled the approximate 450 attendees, 32% of the respondents cited business case and integration costs as the largest show stopper in terms of blockchain adoption. Legal and regulatory issues concerns was the next most important issue, followed by blockchain’s scalability (21%) and data privacy (12%).

Several panelist repeated the observation that blockchain’s greatest benefit for the industry is to reduce ‘friction’ in clearing and settlement processes.

Patrick Byrne, CEO of blockchain vendor T0cas well as CEO of online retailer Overstock.com estimated that the technology could reduce settlement friction as much as 80%.

However, that savings truly depends on the instrument in question, added Robert Palatnick, managing director, chief technology architect at the DTCC.

“The financial industry is not unique in creating a lot of different steps in a process and then connecting that process to multiple siloed technologies,” he said. “If you look at something like equity trade-settlement and clearing, it’s already pretty well-wired. I don’t think that there would be that much savings.”

There are other asset classes that have not migrated to electronic record keeping, which might benefit the most from blockchain’s friction-reduction capabilities, Palatnick added. “Some of them can takes weeks, if not months, to settle.”

In a separate audience poll, the largest plurality (38%) predicted that it would be three to four years before they expected to see a blockchain-based industry solution used by a de minimis amount of participants. A more pessimistic 14% answered that it would take more than six years while only 7% estimated it would take between six months and a year to have a platform up and running in the industry.

Featured image via Natalia Merzlyakova/Dollar Photo Club

HSBC AI Markets harnesses natural language processing to meet market participants’ trading and hedging needs, from pre-trade analysis, to execution, to post-trade. Markets Media caught up with Tom Croft to learn more about the platform.

#AIMarkets

“Portfolio trading is a massive improvement in efficiency.”

What impact do you think portfolio trading will have on the future of bond market structure?

#PortfolioTrading #Trading

Asset owners are investing heavily in data, from AI to ESG to real-time tools.
What’s the top priority for the data suite? 👇

#AssetOwners #FinTech #AI #ESG #Data

At #TradeTechFX Barcelona this week, LMAX Group Managing Director of Digital Assets, Jenna Wright, joins @TheBondDESK @marketsmedia to discuss how FX desks are adapting to the rise of digital assets.

She’ll explore market convergence, regulation and the investor opportunities…

Load More

Related articles

  1. The group has a strategy of integrating trading, settlement & custody for digital assets.

  2. CBOE to Upgrade Trading Platform

    Institutions can access blockchains without needing to upgrade to new infrastructure.

  3. Instinet authorised for cash research payments

    Swift and a group of more than 30 financial institutions globally will develop a shared digital ledger.

  4. The Partior blockchain was interoperable with traditional rails.

  5. The central bank is launching a second round of experimentation.

We're Enhancing Your Experience with Smart Technology

We've updated our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy to introduce AI tools that will personalize your content, improve our market analysis, and deliver more relevant insights.These changes take effect on Aug 25, 2025.
Your data remains protected—we're simply using smart technology to serve you better. [Review Full Terms] | [Review Privacy Policy] Please review our updated Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy carefully. By continuing to use our services after Aug 25, 2025, you agree to these

Close the CTA