DTCC president and CEO Mike Bodson indicated today that the US clearing and settlement giant plans to embark on additional distributed ledger technology tests. The comments came as part of Bodson’s opening remarks at the 2016 Blockchain Symposium, a one-day event held by the DTCC in New York City today . The event features participants from financial institutions such as Barclays, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and the SWIFT Institute.
Word that DTCC is planning additional work with blockchain tech followed the company’s announcement of a partnership with industry startup Digital Asset Holdings on a distributed ledger test focused on repo markets applications.
When referencing the Digital Asset trial, Bodson hinted that further announcements are forthcoming, potentially as the result of work with additional industry partners.
Bodson said: "We’ll be unveiling more information on these efforts over the next couple months." The keynote was preceded by a video presentation documenting industry leaders discussing the hype around blockchain technology – but Bodson was not always optimistic in his remarks about its potential impact.
Bodson sought to stress that, despite the fact that parts of the financial system are "unnecessarily complex", the post-trade process in place today is "efficient and relatively low cost" while providing "stability, reliability and certainty".
"Blockchain isn’t a hammer and every problem isn’t a nail. There will be opportunities to improve the post-trade process, but it may be more efficient to expand existing tech such as the cloud," he said.
Bodson voiced his belief that any innovations the tech can bring will need additional "investment, time and money" to bring use cases to fruition, but that more coordination between major players is needed.
"Virtually every firm is exploring how to use a consensus technology individually. This level of activity may spark innovation … but it is not without it’s pitfalls. So many firms are working on […]
