Category Archive: icap

FlypMe Banner

Why governments should embrace the Blockchain

governments_should_embrace_the_blockchain
 
William Mougayar, author of “The Business Blockchain” and member of the Ethereum Foundation, explains why governments should embrace the blockchain.
A few days ago we published an article where ICAP suggested on why banks must adopt digital currencies; today we want to talk about this new important opinion by Mougayar, who is convinced that the distributed ledger could improve government services.
Government services, in fact, are one of the most important and revolutionary use cases for this technology , so it is not a surprise that governments are working to develop their own blockchain-based applications.
During this year several cities and governmental institutions made their own plans for the ledger.
Singapore, Delaware, Estonia, Georgia, Ghana, Sweden, Switzerland, UK are just a few of many countries that developed a project related to the blockchain.
So, if your government is not working on the blockchain, they should, explained Mougayar.
As the blockchain is an early stage technology, it is easier to implement solutions at smaller scales.

How governments should embrace the Blockchain

What can your government do with the blockchain? There are four main areas:
  1. Verification: licenses, proofs of records, transactions, processes or events.
  2. Movement of assets. E.g. Transferring money from one person/entity to another.
  3. Ownerships: the blockchain is a perfect ledger to custody any asset.
  4. Blockchain can be used to give e-identities to its citizens, enabling a safer kind of voting.
So, government leaders should:
  1. Study the blockchain and explore its potential.
  2. Let people develop a blockchain strategy.
  3. Start experimenting with blockchain technology
  4. Develop new ideas to improve the quality of life of the citizens

Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.

Satoshi

Why Banks must adopt Digital Currency

banks_must_adopt_digital_currency

Why Banks Must Adopt Digital Currency

Financial Institution ICAP explained why banks must adopt digital currency in the near future.
Recently a group of banks announced their project to build a private blockchain and create a new digital currency to be used within financial institutions with the goal of improving fund transfers and reducing costs.
Called the “Utility Settlement Coin”, this program was created by Clearmatics and tested by UBS, BNY Mellon, Deutsche Bank, and Banco Santander.
This consortium is also participated by ICAP, but the company decided to stand apart from this project for now, because a new settlement system based on a cryptocurrency that works in a private blockchain could be disruptive for their business.
ICAP, in fact, is an electronic dealer broker and provider of post trade risk services, carrying out transactions for financial institutions and private individuals, so exactly the kind of infrastructure that the USC might impact.
But, ICAP doesn’t want to go against modernity and innovation so it wants to let people understand how a proprietary distributed network should be adopted. Also, ICAP said it might join the project later. 
ICAP Michael McFadgen explained to Coindesk:
“A long-term vision for market infrastructure based on distributed ledgers is that it has some common layers that the market uses widely. One of those layers is hopefully the Utility Settlement Coin. We will likely be building on top of that.”

A private Blockchain

The Utility Settlement Coin works on a blockchain called “Decentralized Clearing Network” and it aims at providing easier access to central bank-issued cash.
ICAP also announced they completed a test with startup Axoni to convert trade data from banks, so it could be processed on a private blockchain, but this program is not overlapping with with the USC one.

Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.

Satoshi