Blockstack, formerly known as CryptoCorp, is seeking to provide custom blockchain technology solutions to companies in Wall Street. The underlying technology behind bitcoin has been gaining more and more attention these days, particularly from financial firms seeking to explore its practical applications.
Several banks are already tapping into the features of the distributed public ledger, as this could prove to reduce costs and enhance security of record-keeping and trade settlement operations. Online retail giant Overstock has even experimented with cryptosecurties and using blockchain technology to facilitate trading.
Blockchain Technology in Finance
“This is a software stack to enable financial services to have a private isolated blockchain that became exciting to financial institutions, because now they can start working on applications and back-office systems,” said Standard Chartered Bank veteran Peter Shiau, who serves as the Blockstack’s COO. He is joined by Phillip Harris, advisor and former head of FX at Nasdaq.
Blockstack isn’t the first firm to offer blockchain technology solutions to larger institutions in Wall Street, as a growing number of companies such as Chain, Eris Ltd, Gem and Digital Asset Holdings are also focusing on the same initiatives. In particular, Blockstack aims to educate its clients to leverage the applications for the blockchain in commodities, equities, clearing and trading.
In addition, Blockstack will provide a “private, isolated blockchain” with access to core “blockchain functionality” through APIs. These should offer four main functions: a private ledger based on Bitcoin Core and optimized for high transaction volume; asset issuance to represent real-world assets; transaction management that allows users to describe transaction flows between parties; and multi-signature wallet security.
“Using these functions, a financial institution can model existing work flows in the lifecycle of common transactions,” the company explained. Shiau clarified that they could add support for other blockchains but maintained that the bitcoin blockchain technology remains the best option for now.