Blockchain technology firm AlphaPoint has partnered with Scotiabank for a successful proof of blockchain technology; the test showed significant advantages for use of blockchain with FIXML trading communication; leading features of AlphaPoint's blockchain solution for financial trading include easily integrated communication with legacy systems and throughput of thousands of events per second with sub-second confirmation times. Source
A new consortium for blockchain solutions in financial services has been announced called the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance; the consortium includes JPMorgan, Microsoft, Bank of New York Mellon, Intel and Banco Santander S.A.; it will focus on building out an open-source platform started by JPMorgan called Quorum; the platform will seek to develop solutions for realizing cost savings in financial transactions with blockchain technology; the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance plans to launch a working version of its protocol later this year. Source
Nasdaq Vice President Fredrik Voss is optimistic about the use of blockchain in capital markets trading; according to Cointelegraph, stock market transactions and the core premise of blockchain are compatible making stock market trading ideal for blockchain integration; blockchain technology could help with a number of trading factors including transparency and efficiency; according to Voss, blockchain technology is helping industry trading specialists to look at some of the market's trading problems with new options and solutions from blockchain's capabilities; while he is optimistic, Voss also says, "There is a long way to go before we see a very wide scale adoption of the technology in capital markets, but it looks more promising now than we thought three years ago." Source
Bitbond has raised $1.2 million in new equity capital to grow its user base and further its product development; the firm offers loans globally to small and medium-sized enterprises and uses the bitcoin blockchain for global cross-border lending; since its launch the platform has originated over 1,600 loans worth approximately $1.2 million; it currently has 76,000 registered users in 120 countries. Source
Deloitte has identified the need for developing auditing standards for blockchain as the technology becomes increasingly tested and utilized across all industries; the firm has checked blockchain protocols and applications against professional auditing standards in a project that audited an internally developed loyalty points blockchain application on a permissioned Ethereum network; the firm is currently seeking to be a market leader in defining how an auditor can provide audited assurance of blockchain applications. Source
R3 has reported it will focus on its Corda platform; the firm was developed to create blockchain inspired solutions; in comments regarding Corda, R3 Managing Director Charley Cooper says, "It is heavily inspired by and captures the benefits of blockchain systems, but with design choices that make it able to meet the needs of regulated financial institutions."; R3 refutes any wasted efforts on blockchain research saying it never intended to use blockchain technology directly; Cooper also notes, "We've said from the beginning that while Corda is a distributed ledger platform, it is not a traditional blockchain platform and was never designed to be one." Source
ING and Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking presented a blockchain test prototype for oil trading at IP Week in London; the platform they have developed is called Easy Trading Connect and the prototype tested a live oil trade by global commodity trading group, Mercuria; the blockchain test proved significant advantages in speed, cost and risk benefits; overall the test found blockchain helpful in improving trading inefficiencies, specifically the exchange of physical documents globally; it also helped to reduce the bank's transaction time in the trading process to 25 minutes from three hours. Source
Corporate loan trading has historically been a manual process involving millions of emails annually between buyers, sellers and borrowers making it difficult to automate; however new technologies, including blockchain, have been advancing with potential solutions for automation; a new rule which went into effect last September has helped to increase transaction and settlement times; the new rule provides a compensation incentive for faster loan settlement and has improved the average settlement time by four days; the faster settlement has caused many fintech innovators to change their focus from settlement automation to process efficiency. Source
Representatives Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) have announced the creation of a Congressional Blockchain Caucus; in comments regarding the Caucus, Jared Polis said, "Lawmakers need to understand that as the world rapidly changes, it's our responsibility to ensure that we craft policies and adapt laws that match our ingenuity."; the Caucus has already gained considerable support and will seek to educate, engage and provide research on blockchain innovation and issues that could require regulatory guidelines and laws. Source
Laura Shin talks with Spencer Bogart, vice president of equity research at Needham and Company, and Daniel Masters, director at Global Advisors Bitcoin Investment (GABI), about the potential SEC approval of the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust ETF; both Spencer and Daniel provide insight on the bitcoin market and current funds; Daniel Masters currently manages bitcoin funds at GABI in the UK; Spencer cites three outcomes that could occur on March 11: the SEC could approve or disapprove, the Gemini exchange could withdraw or no decision would automatically approve the ETF; one factor keeping the ETF from a decision is conflict of interest from the Fund's management and Gemini exchange which both would be operated by the Winklevoss brothers’ business; other factors include the structuring of the Fund and the represented value of the underlying cryptocurrency; the Bitcoin Trust ETF would be the first approved by the SEC in the US and its approval would have an effect on the bitcoin market overall; two other firms have also filed for SEC approval of bitcoin ETFs including SolidX and Grayscale Investments. Source