Blockchain Technology – Page 10

The Bank Of England Declared That A Decentralized Transactions Blockchain Technology Platform Is “Theoretically Possible”

After having carried out a Proof of Concept (PoC) with the startup Chain, the Bank of England recently published that it came to the conclusion that a distributed decentralized blockchain technology platform with a degree of privacy for sensitive data seems possible.

According to the official report, the research was conducted with the aim of exploring whether the blockchain technology can maintain the levels of privacy required by the banking system participants, at the same time that the information is distributed among all the participating nodes and that the transactions they can be supervised by the regulatory authorities.

The conclusion they reached responds to a doubt expressed by the bank since they began to investigate the technology in 2016

“It seems theoretically possible to configure a distributed accounting system so that transactions remain private while All the data shared in the network are maintained, and at the same time, a regulatory view of all transactions is maintained,” the bank said.

The testing was carried out with a transfer of ownership of a fictitious asset among several participants, including the central bank and a regulatory body. The activity supported by Chain was carried out for exploration and learning purposes, as published by the bank.

In the test, the issue and withdrawal of assets, as well as the granting of access to the general ledger, was the responsibility of the central authority, while the regulatory authority could have access to supervise all transactions.

Although the answer was “theoretically possible” regarding blockchain technology, security issues still need to be fixed

The report highlights that other aspects of the technology of the distributed ledger still “must be explored further” since the blockchain is not yet competitive to process banking transactions in the speed of processing and the scalability of it. An issue that, for the moment, does not make the adoption of blockchain technology viable as a platform for the processing of all transactions, according to the Bank of England statement.

To understand the importance of this test it is necessary to take into account that the privacy of the data has been one of the main concerns of the banks regarding blockchain. A fact that has led banking corporations to develop private blockchain-based solutions such as the one proposed by the Bank of England.

In addition to this proof of concept based on the use of blockchain technology for the banking sector, last March, the Bank of England announced another proof of concept, this time for the support of its gross settlement system, whose results are expected to be obtained by the end of this 2018.

Anna Galvez

European Commission Encourages EU Countries To Commit To Blockchain Technology

In the framework of Digital Day 2018, an event about the digital environment and the countries of the European Union, the Vice-president of the Digital Single Market project of the European Commission, Andrus Ansip, gave a speech in which he invited the EU countries to commit to the development of blockchain technology, as it has now become very popular and of daily use.

The opening speech, issued in Brussels, was disseminated through the official website of the European Commission on Tuesday.

Ansip began by pointing out the achievements of the Commission regarding digital environments and new technologies, as well as the possible future of the European Union in these areas and the approach in other important areas of the EU’s Digital Single Market.

“This year I will again ask the [EU] countries to commit themselves to the digital future and based on data from all over Europe, with a focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI), digital healthcare, and blockchain technologies,” said Andrus Ansip, the VP for the Digital Single Market of the European Commission.

The European Commission sees the advantages offered by the blockchain technology

Furthermore, blockchain technology is being used in almost every sector or area, from financial, health or data storage, to education or entertainment. Europe, in general, has demonstrated its intentions to adopt more and more the use of such technology, which is increasingly used and popular.

“I would like to see EU countries commit themselves in a similar way to blockchain technologies, which are now being withdrawn from the laboratory and are becoming mainstream. As with IA: we must take advantage of this new opportunity to innovate,” added Andrus Ansip.

Also, in the speech, special emphasis was placed on the health sector, because technology, including blockchain, can bring innovation, increase efficiency, and even promote a healthy life.

Essentially, Ansip believes that the digital economy, characterized by cryptocurrencies market and blockchain technologies, together with new legal frameworks will gain force so that a solid Digital Single Market is being built. The representative of the European Commission also said that Europe is a continent well positioned to fulfill a leadership role, especially in the areas of AI and blockchain technology.

Anna Galvez