Babb's blockchain plan could turn everyone into a bank

Baozou Commentary : London fintech startup Babb App uses Ethereum smart contracts to build a banking system based on a licensed distributed ledger. The decentralized information management model can reduce costs, improve data authenticity and security; use big data analysis for information matching and risk control, and provide AI-based customer self-service. All users are connected through the system to form a peer-to-peer network, which can provide functions that traditional banks do not have and bring in people outside the traditional system. Each person holding an account actually plays the role of a banking institution.

Translation: Annie_Xu

London-based fintech startup Babb App said it is using ethereum smart contracts to create a bank based on a permissioned blockchain distributed ledger.

The Babb banking platform will leverage a decentralized information model to “minimize costs while maximizing the authenticity and security of data.”

It is expected to be launched on a small scale in the second quarter of this year, and says that "everyone is a bank, regardless of income level." Babb does not consider itself a "challenger bank", but rather a partnership with existing banks and financial institutions.

Babb App CEO Guido Branca said that through blockchain and mobile technology, it will "provide new capabilities that Wall Street banks do not have and reach many people who are excluded from the traditional financial system."

The company will use big data analysis for information matching and risk control, and provide AI-based customer self-service. The app connects users to each other (P2P), and each user who downloads the app and provides a selfie and voiceprint can get a UK account after activating the app.

Babb is currently an approved payment institution (API) regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The startup is applying for a full banking license and has applied to enter the FCA’s sandbox.

In June 2016, Babb raised seed funding and joined the Level39 Accelerator Space in Canary Wharf, London’s financial district.