The technology underpinning the cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin and others, is “one of the first truly disruptive ideas from the fintech sector,” Deutsche Bank Research has said in an online post titled Blockchain – attack is probably the best form of defence.
Authored by Thomas F. Dapp and Alexander Karollus, the post states that traditional banks should implement parts of the blockchain technology in order to defend their business models.
“Traditional banks now need to focus in particular on timely analysis of these new technological challenges and on development of potential (collaboration) strategies in order to reclaim a more active role in the competitive race to innovate. One result of the planned potential analyses could be that financial institutions attempt to defend their business models by implementing certain parts of the blockchain technology for their own purposes and in their own IT environment, naturally without the peer-to-peer aspect.”
Thomas and Alexander convey that traditional banks can reclaim their glory if they offer financial services and products virtually in real-time (using the blockchain) at lower costs.
The post also indicates that financial services companies including stock exchanges, credit card firms and clearing houses are looking at the blockchain technology to determine how potential a threat is it or how it could be used to improve the digital profile of traditional banking, boost its efficiency and better the execution times.
The authors advise that, for their own purposes, banks should choose to use only certain parts of the blockchain, that would remove the P2P nature of the technology in its current form.
“It is entirely conceivable that banks could … set up a new digital booking and clearing system amongst themselves enabling them to offer client transactions featuring the benefits of the blockchain, such as speed, efficiency, internationality and cost savings.“