The great civil rights activist Mahatma Ghandi once said, first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. And for the Bitcoin community, the day of capitulation by the banks may have finally arrived as a new report out shows that 40 of the world’s top financial institutions are deep into research to use the blockchain technology that underwrites the Bitcoin currency.
And perhaps most ironic in these revelations is the fact that for several years, banks have been vilifying Bitcoin and trying to use every means possible to deter or destroy its use in the global financial system.
Forty banks have carried out trading of fixed income products through so-called “private blockchains”. A blockchain is the digital decentralized ledger underpinning Bitcoin technology. It keeps track of transactions and it is essentially impossible to tamper with.
R3, a bank club promoting the usage of blockchain in the sector, announced on Thursday that its members had used five blockchains to issue, trade and redeem documents.
R3’s CEO David Rutter wrote in an email:
“This development further supports R3’s belief that close collaboration among global financial institutions and technology providers will create significant momentum behind the adoption of distributed ledger solutions across the industry.
This development is, in many ways, ironic. Bitcoin, launched in 2008 in the wake of the subprime crisis, was conceived by its creator — the pseudonymous Nakamoto — as a device to do away with banks completely. - Sputnik News
Despite the industry-wide attack on Bitcoin by the banks, the crypto-currency has not only survived, but has grown stronger than most anyone could believe. And while attempted regulations and attacks on bitcoin transfer operations have slowed down its expansion into everyday commerce, it has now reached the point of critical mass where volatility is no longer an issue in its day to day value.
Blockchain technology is becoming the next wave of banking as people seek to move away from traditional financial operations and more into peer to peer transacting. And like the pre-loadable Visa gift cards that allow individuals to function without the need for a formal bank account, Bitcoin currencies appear to have their place in the global financial world, with more and more banks capitulating to it, and to its underlying blockchain systems.
Kenneth Schortgen Jr is a writer for Secretsofthefed.com, Examiner.com, Roguemoney.net, and To the Death Media, and hosts the popular web blog, The Daily Economist. Ken can also be heard Wednesday afternoons giving an weekly economic report on the Angel Clark radio show.
