Close to the heels of Societe Generale’s job listing for a blockchain and bitcoin developer, another major French bank BNP Paribas has announced its involvement in bitcoin and blockchain technology research. According to a few news sources, the banking giant is looking to add bitcoin to one of its currency funds.
In these times, where the banks are forced to innovate and embrace the technology behind bitcoin and digital currencies, this piece of information does not come as a surprise. The bitcoin technology has emerged as a threat to the traditional banking and financial sector mainly due to its capability of offering easy, fast, cheaper and more secure fund transfers. Banks are now trying to keep up with the bitcoin industry by exploring possible ways of adopting the same technology for moving fiat currency across borders and between branches.
The spokesperson for BNP Paribas has recently confirmed that the financial institution is currently involved in beta testing cryptocurrency based applications. The bank will soon be making an announcement about its progress.
In the spokesperson’s words – “ We are looking at blockchain technology and how it can be applied to post trade processes to make things faster and potentially cheaper, but it’s all very much a project and it’s all in testing, It’s nothing live.”
One of BNP Paribas’ analysts, Johann Palychata had recently written an article about the progress of bitcoin technology and how it can leave current businesses redundant in fintech industry. The article featured in the company’s magazine was deemed a bit controversial by some people in financial technology industry.
Earlier this week Societe Generale’s requirement for an IT developer with expertise in bitcoin, altcoins and blockchain technologies offered a hint about the bank’s involvement in research and development of bitcoin technology to meet its operational needs.
READ MORE: French Bank Hints Interest in Bitcoin through Job Ad