A new survey shows financial professionals are increasingly bullish on blockchain and distributed ledger tech, even as they profess to a lack of understanding of the subject matter.
Conducted by think tank and distributed ledger specialist Z/Yen Group at the Bankers’ Association for Finance and Trade (BAFT) Global Annual Meeting in Paris this January, the poll found that while 70% of respondents said the financial institution they work for is exploring the technology, 69% reported they don’t believe they have a “good grasp” of how it works.
Overall, 73% of respondents reported they had more than 15 years experience in the industry, with the majority working in either a business executive (44%) or product development (46%) role. Just 6% indicated they were responsible for their institution’s technology offerings.
Of note was that respondents demonstrated that they believe in a future where there is more than just one central distributed ledger, with just 3% indicating they think a technology like the bitcoin blockchain could serve this function.
Sixty-four percent of survey takers voiced their opinion that there will be thousands or millions of blockchains (48%) or more than 1 billion (16%).
Underscoring this idea is that 71% believe the secure financial telecommunications platform SWIFT believe the service should be extended through the use of distributed ledger tech, with just 18% suggesting the technology would serve as a replacement.
Elsewhere, the survey examined topics such as the perceived impact of regulation on financial technology efforts and the effectiveness of current methods of combatting cybercrime, among other topics.
Confetti image via Shutterstock