Re:My professional opinion as a blockchain researcher: I don...
by bunderbunder on Monday February 12, 2018 @10:58AM
(#16359436)
You're maybe taking an overly simplistic view of the needs of financial institutions.
In finance, the trustworthiness of the transactions themselves is pretty much a non-issue. The real issues are much more subtle. What's the likelihood that a counterparty actually has or can acquire the goods they're selling me? If I'm selling them a futures contract, what's the likelihood that they will have enough cash to make good on that deal at a future date? Does my bank have a healthy enough balance sheet that I will be able to get at my money when I need it?
These are all problems that the financial industry has solutions for. They are admittedly imperfect and of varying quality. But what's there is a far sight better than what blockchain has been able to offer, which is approximately nothing. Hopefully I shouldn't have to do more than mention the names MtGox and Tether to drive this point home.
In finance, the trustworthiness of the transactions themselves is pretty much a non-issue. The real issues are much more subtle. What's the likelihood that a counterparty actually has or can acquire the goods they're selling me? If I'm selling them a futures contract, what's the likelihood that they will have enough cash to make good on that deal at a future date? Does my bank have a healthy enough balance sheet that I will be able to get at my money when I need it?
These are all problems that the financial industry has solutions for. They are admittedly imperfect and of varying quality. But what's there is a far sight better than what blockchain has been able to offer, which is approximately nothing. Hopefully I shouldn't have to do more than mention the names MtGox and Tether to drive this point home.